by Jessie Cooke
A warm flush raced through his body when he first laid eyes on her. Then his stomach started swirling like butterflies were taking flight. He felt sweat beading on his forehead, and he didn’t even want to think about what was going on in his jeans. Ignoring it all as much as he could he said, “You should wear a bell around your neck or something.”
She smiled, and that made his bodily reactions even worse. Trying to put distance between them, he carried his plate over to the table and sat down. Of course, she followed him. “I’m sorry,” she said, as once again she sat down, uninvited. “I didn’t mean to sneak up.”
“Apology accepted. Good to see you. Run along now.”
“Wow, you are the rudest man I’ve ever met.”
“And yet you seem to keep seeking me out…is it because you think I’m so desperately attracted to you?” Madison lost the smile she held on her pretty face and narrowed her big eyes on his.
“Excuse me for trying to be honest. Trust me, I wouldn’t act on that attraction even if you begged me now that I know what a rude ass you are.”
Lion chuckled and popped a bite of steak in his mouth. He hated to admit it, but he kind of enjoyed their exchanges. Probably just because she was so fine to look at. “Yet here you still are,” he said, after swallowing the steak.
“I have questions,” she said. “Questions I really need answers to. I think you can help me…”
“Look, if this is about your old man again, don’t waste your time. I’m not telling you anything about Hawk. I don’t talk about people behind their backs, even to their nosy kids. You want to know what’s up with your old man…I’ll say once more in case you’re hearing impaired…ask him.” She stared at him for a long time and then finally said:
“I think he’s sick, or something.” Lion hated the feeling that simple statement and the worried look on her face gave him. He didn’t care about Hawk, or his kid…at least, he didn’t want to care.
“I’m still not sure why you think that’s my problem.”
“Don’t you have a heart? Nobody here likes him. I can’t stand the thought of him being sick and alone…”
“Then go back to Arizona, and take him with you.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“Not sure about that,” Lion said. “I’m suffering right now just listening to you drone on and on…” That did it. Madison jumped out of the chair in a huff and, almost knocking it over, she all but ran for the door. As soon as she was gone, Lion closed his eyes. Just for a second, he had to block everything else out. He hadn’t even realized until Madison said “sick” that even after everything that happened between them, he still saw the old man as immortal. Madison asked if he had a heart, and it was unfortunate, he thought anyways, that he did. His heart still remembered the Hawk that helped him learn to deal with his grief and his anger after his mother died…but then in the same vein it remembered breaking, the night his Me Maw died and Hawk had left him behind, to deal with it on his own. He opened his eyes and sighed. Pushing back the plate of food he was no longer hungry for he stood up and decided he’d grab one beer, make the rounds and say hello to everyone he was obligated to, and get the hell out of Dodge. Hopefully by the next time he had to go to the ranch, Madison would be gone. He didn’t like all the feelings she was stirring up inside of him, feelings he’d suppressed for a long time.
6
Madison was sitting out back as the sun set, watching the kids still playing on the playground. Bounce houses, obstacle courses, and even mini-carnival rides had been set up for them. Madison loved what Dax and Angel had done on the ranch for kids. She’d met their adopted daughter, a sweet little girl named Susie who seemed well adjusted despite what Madison had heard was a rough beginning in life. She’d been given a chance to tour the teen center Dax had founded and had built in the center of the ranch. The center took in runaways and kids who had been abused either physically or sexually, some of them forced into the sex trade. Dax and Angel both must have jumped through some hellacious legal hoops to get the licensing all taken care of, Madison thought, but from the looks of it, it had been worth it. The kids received counseling, some of them reunification with their families, the center had teachers and libraries and a full-service gym. There was a huge playroom and even a little chapel where Madison’s tour guide told her they held weekly services for anyone that wanted to attend. Out in back of the center Madison had found her favorite part…a community garden. Madison loved nothing more than plants and gardens. It was why she’d chosen botany as her career, and she could easily see the benefits that learning how to grow and care for things could have on the teens.
She liked the ranch and the people, and since no one would tell her what was going on with her dad, she was beginning to wonder if she should just settle in. She was sure she could find a job in a city as big as Boston, and then if Hawk was sick, she’d be there for him. She knew if she went back to Arizona, he’d do his damnedest to keep her from finding out…and she was afraid that the next time she might see him would be at his funeral.
“Hey there. Madison, isn’t it?”
Madison looked up into a pair of light blue eyes. The man was big…not tall, but stocky, muscular. He had shaggy light-brown hair and bright red cheeks. She’d met him when she first got to the ranch, and she’d seen him around since, but they hadn’t spoken. She was trying to remember his name as she said:
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Linc,” he said, taking a seat in the lawn chair next to her. “They call me Luger.”
“Yes, I remember,” she lied. “Nice to see you.”
“You too. Having fun?”
She smiled and nodded. She wasn’t, really…but she wasn’t going to explain it to a stranger. She hoped he was just passing by and would leave her alone soon; she wasn’t really in the mood for any conversation. “Yeah, good party.”
“Always is around here,” he said. “I’ve been a Skull since I was twenty.”
She wasn’t sure what she was expected to say to that. “Nice,” was what she went with.
“Weird that we never saw you before.”
“Not really,” she said, “I grew up out west.”
“I heard—in Vegas, huh? That must have been one hell of a place to be a teenager.”
“It was alright,” she said, turning back toward the kids. The lights on the playground had automatically switched on and the kids were now bathed in a soft yellow light as they played.
“You got kids?” Luger asked. Madison tried not to look annoyed as she turned back to him and said:
“No. You?”
He laughed. “Maybe, who the fuck really knows?” Madison turned away again so he didn’t see how she felt about that remark. “Anyways, how long will you be staying around?”
She forced herself to be polite and look back toward him. “I’m not sure yet.”
Luger ran his blue eyes over her body and then actually licked his lips. “Hard to believe Hawk is your old man.”
Madison swallowed her disgust and said, “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”
“Just that he must have fucked the finest-looking woman on the planet to produce a woman that looked like you.”
Madison frowned and stood up. “I think I’ll go back inside.” Luger stood up too, and got too close to her, touching her arm with his own.
“I’ll walk with you.”
“That’s okay,” Madison said, “I’d rather you didn’t.”
Luger chuckled, a deep, ugly laugh. “Well, I’ll be damned. Hawk’s kid actually thinks she’s fucking better than me.”
Madison could smell the liquor and the weed on Luger’s breath. She doubted he was a sterling citizen when he was sober, but she was going to try to give him credit tonight for being too drunk to realize what a son of a bitch he was being. Instead of replying to his comment, she just walked away. She only got two steps before she felt his big hand close around her arm. “Hey! I was talking.”
Madison looked down a
t where he was holding onto her, and back up at his face. With a glare fixed on her own face she said, “And I was finished listening to you. Now let go of me.”
“You’re finished when I tell you. You obviously don’t know how things work around here. Women don’t get to make the fucking rules. Especially women who were made by a lowlife piece of shit that would betray his own president and club and try to start a fucking war…” That was as far as he got before he was grabbed from behind. Madison felt him tighten his grip on her arm, and then let go as he was jerked back. Lion was behind him, with his arm wrapped around Luger’s neck. Luger’s eyes were bulging and he looked like he wasn’t getting any air as Lion pulled him up off his feet. Madison didn’t know what to do, so she just watched.
“I’m going to let go of your neck, and you’re going to take a breath and then apologize to the lady. Then you’re going to fucking disappear off this ranch tonight, and stay as far away from her as you can get from then on out, got it?” Luger made a strangled sound that couldn’t be interpreted. Madison watched the tight muscles in Lion’s arm relax, but he didn’t let go of the other man. Luger coughed and wheezed and finally spat out:
“Fucking snooty bitch…” He was gasping again in a second. Lion had tightened his grip on his throat.
“Lion, everything okay?” Cody, one of the SAs of the club, was about ten feet away, holding his son’s hand. Lion looked over at him and actually smiled.
“Yep. All’s well.” Cody looked like he was suppressing a smile as he said:
“Good. Carry on then.” He walked away with his son, and Lion loosened his grip on Luger again, enough for the other man to take a big, wheezing breath, cough again, and then push out:
“I’m sorry.” Lion let go of him and Luger almost fell over. He got his bearings and when he turned and looked at Lion, Madison thought she might have never seen such hate in someone’s eyes. “This isn’t over between you and me, Jungle Boy.”
Lion smiled. “Until we meet again then.” Luger stormed off toward the side of the clubhouse and when Lion looked at Madison, she saw real concern in his eyes. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah, he was just being an ass. Thank you, though.”
“No problem.” Lion started to walk away from her, away from where the rest of the party seemed to be gathering for the bonfire. Madison followed. She’d fallen into step beside him, almost running to keep up when he finally said, “Was just going for a walk…but by all means, join me.” Madison smiled and did just that.
Madison was struggling to keep up, but Lion didn’t slow down. He really had been planning on taking a walk, getting away from all the people for just long enough to catch his breath. He hadn’t wanted company…but he’d passed Madison and that fucking asshole Luger just as he was talking shit about Hawk. On any given day, Lion might not be compelled to defend the old man, but the look on Madison’s face was too much for him to just walk on by. He was grateful at least that she wasn’t asking him about what Luger said…at least for a while. When they got near Dax’s house on the back forty, she stopped walking and leaned into a tree. Lion started to go on without her but his damned conscience got the best of him.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just haven’t been jogging in a while,” she said with a smile. Fuck…she looked so good standing there with the moon and the shadows bouncing off her. He told himself to walk away, but before he knew it, he was walking toward her. When he got close again she said, “What did Luger mean, about my father betraying his club?”
“Jesus, lady, do you ever give it a rest?”
“I just think…” Lion was overcome with two impulses at the same time. One was to choke her, and the other to kiss her. Since he knew choking her wouldn’t be right, he reached out and wrapped his hand around to cup the back of her head and let the other arm snake around her waist. She let out a little gasp as he pulled her into him, but tipped her face up so that when his lips came crashing down, hers were ready. He kissed her, hard and deep. He could feel her body melding into his as he ran his tongue across her lips and then shoved it back into her mouth and tangled it up with hers. She moaned at some point and Lion let his hand slide up underneath the back of her shirt. As soon as he felt her skin, every nerve in his head fired off at the same time and he felt dizzy. It took him several…long…minutes to realize what he was doing, who he was kissing. When he finally did, he let go of her so abruptly that she had to reach out and grab onto the tree behind her. She was panting and looking at him with those wide brown eyes of hers. They just stood there like that for what seemed to Lion like an eternity and finally when she caught her breath she said, “What the hell was that?”
“Nothing but a distraction to get you to shut up,” he said, taking off walking again, unsure of whether he wanted her to follow him or not.
7
Madison stood there, holding onto the tree and watching Lion walk away. Her head was spinning so fast that she could barely think. That kiss…it was the most erotic, sensual thing she’d ever experienced. It was tender and sweet, passionate and urgent, all at the same time. It was the stuff fairy tales were made of…but so was the fact that as soon as it was over, he turned right back into a beast. Suddenly feeling angry at his audacity, she once again took off after him. He was walking through what looked like a recently plowed field, and Madison’s boots sunk down into the dirt with every step. It took her a while to catch him and when she did, she put her hand on his arm and said, “Stop!”
He stopped, but looked down at her like she’d lost her mind. He was definitely not used to, or good at, following orders. “Why won’t you just go away?”
“Seriously? That was you who just kissed me, right? Or do you have two personalities? The gentleman and…” Lion started laughing.
“The gentleman? That’s funny. Look, Madison, there is no part of me that’s a gentleman. I kissed you to get you to shut up, plain and simple. You’re driving me fucking crazy.”
“Well, I think that was a short trip,” she said, sarcastically. “And I was there for that kiss…there was a lot more to it than you just wanting to shut me up.”
“There’s that confidence again. But just for fun, let’s say I do want to throw you down in the dirt right now and…” Madison smiled, enjoying his search for a word. When he just didn’t go on she said:
“Fuck me?”
He frowned. “Kind of crude, but okay.”
Madison couldn’t help it. She wanted to be angry with him, but she had to laugh at that. “I’m sorry. I meant make love…” Again, he shut her up with a kiss…and if she thought the last one was good, this one was earth-shattering. When he let her up for air, he didn’t say a word this time. He just grabbed her hand and started walking again, almost pulling her along behind him. They walked until they were way past Dax’s house, and past the house that Madison knew the “club girls” lived in. There was a small wooden shed that sat up against a fence, and he led her inside. It was pitch dark in there and Madison was just a little bit frightened as her eyes adjusted. She started thinking about how little she really knew about him, and how he could do anything he wanted to her way out there, away from everyone. No one would even hear her…”
“So, do you want to or not?” Again, she had to laugh. Her eyes were beginning to adjust and the sliver or moonlight breaking through one of the slats in the roof landed on his face. She could see his green eyes, shining with lust, and it tickled her to her core.
“Do I want to…what?”
“Stop it.”
She giggled. “But it’s so much fun.”
“Trust me, the other will be a lot more fun.”
She almost laughed again, at “the other,” but she decided he was right. She wanted to kiss him again, badly. Lion surprised her, however, by taking a step away from her. She heard a rustling and then she could make out him flapping open a large, dark-colored tarp. He laid it down on the ground and then stripped off his shirt and lay it down on top of it.
While Madison was still drooling at the sight of his massive, extremely cut chest, Lion put one of his arms around her and then gently lowered her down on top of his shirt. He loomed over her and his hair hung down and tickled the sides of her face. She had to blink rapidly to keep it out of her eyes and all she had was a faint vision of his face lowering down to hers. He stopped so short of her lips that she felt his warm breath and the vibration as he whispered:
“So, we doing this?”
Speechless, Madison nodded her head. She lifted up just enough for their lips to meet and they shared another explosive kiss. Madison had thought men rocked her world before…but she’d been wrong. Lion was rocking it so hard that it was thrown off its axis. While they kissed, he kept his weight off her with one hand pressed against the floor and with the other, he began to greedily explore her body. He ran his hand down her side until he reached the bottom of her blouse and then he ran it up underneath. Their lips were still joined, but he let out a groan that sent shivers down her spine when he touched her. His hand was rough, and warm, and his beard scratched at her face and he smelled like a combination of beer and bonfire…and all of it was intoxicating.
He finally broke the kiss and pushed himself up so he was looming over her. Taking her blouse in both hands, he began to slide it up. When he reached her underarms, Madison raised them and he slid it off. The look on his face and the long, deep groan he let out, when he looked at her in her bra, set her core on fire. He slid a hand underneath her and unhooked the lace bra. He gave her another look, as if asking for permission and when she nodded, he slipped it off and laid it aside, almost gently. His hands were on her pants next. He unzipped and unbuttoned them and began to slide them off, stopping to unzip her boots and pull them off too. When she was down to her lace thong he looked her over again and said, “Jesus fuck, I can’t believe Hawk created this.”
