Connected in Code: (Ravage MC Rebellion Series Book Four) A Motorcycle Club Romance of Wrong Way & Hayden

by Ryan Michele

  A while later, I heard Luna’s dog tags jingling first. Turning my head, a smile lifted my lips. Luna was right next to Wrong Way, trotting in, her head looking up at him then to me. “She likes you.”

  “I’m a likable man.”

  I turned back to the stove. “Yeah, you are that. So what brings ya around?”

  “Wanted to see ya.”

  This made me smile. While I was nowhere near a priority in his life, he at least thought about me from time to time.

  “You been doin’ okay?”

  Wrong Way was in the Ravage MC Rebellion Chapter. I had no idea exactly what he did and even curious, it wasn’t my business. He sometimes talked about his brothers in the sense of they were together that day, but mostly he was tight-lipped with it. I respected that. That level of loyalty was hard to find these days. Finding people you could really trust and count on were far and few between.

  He took a step back. “Yeah, just got shit goin’ down. You?”

  While he didn’t tell me about the club, I didn’t tell him about my jobs either. We each had our own lives, and that was the way it would stay. It was a mutual respect. “Same old, same old. Practicin’ throwin’ my knives and walkin’ Luna.” See, the truth, but I left out the other stuff I’d been doing. Lying was something I used often, growing up to survive. Now, I only did it when it was necessary. This wasn’t. Therefore, I was vague yet honest.

  Not everyone understood what I did, but it wasn’t for them. It was for me. For my control. For myself. At least the part no one but Rocco knew about.

  But I had no doubt the man knew what I did for a living. He was too damn smart not to, and a man like him wouldn’t just give himself to someone repeatedly and not look them up in the process. Hell, he knew my passcode for the alarm. No doubt he probably checked me out as soon as I moved into this place.

  “Knives?” he asked, and I shrugged, turning around to him with a smile on my devious face.

  “Yeah. You’d better be nice to me.”

  His smile widened. “Oh, baby, I’m always nice to you.”

  Turning back to the stove, I smiled like a giddy school girl to the pot below me. Damn, when he said shit like that it always got my belly fluttering.

  “I lost a brother,” he said out of the blue, shocking the shit out of me and wiping away my smile.

  After picking my mouth up off the floor from his candid statement and moving to him, I responded, “Sorry to hear that.”

  “He was a piece of shit, but still hard losin’ one of us.”

  My hand went to his arm in a comforting gesture. On rare occasions, he would open up, telling me about something significate that happened in his life. I could count on one hand how many times it was. Each time I treasured it like gold. It was precious and needed to be treated with care.

  It was a slippery slope, though. While I loved when he did, it also made my heart feel. Something it wasn’t allowed to do when it came to Wrong Way. It would do neither of us any favors.

  But damn, it was hard not to. Each time we talked like this, it cracked a small part of me. He was the only one who’d ever done it, and it would only set me up for a broken heart in the end. Wrong Way wasn’t the staying man. He liked to come and go as he pleased, and it had worked great for both of us.

  Him at a distance because giving him my body was much easier than giving him anything inside of me.

  Moving back to the cutting board, I chopped up the carrots and tossed them in the pot, needing to be able to listen to him—yet not.

  “You ever lose someone?” he asked.

  A weight hit my gut. I’d lost so many things in my life. Over and over again. It was something I didn’t like talking about. All the pain that I’d lived through only to make it out on the other side a better woman. That was what my focus had always been.

  But this was Wrong Way. The man who just gave me a small part of him. He wouldn’t judge me. That didn’t mean I wanted to crack myself open wide for him, or anyone else, but a small tidbit wouldn’t hurt.

  I wrestled around with it in my head and decided to say, “Yeah.” Somehow it was easier to talk to the pot than to him directly. It was true. I had Janey to talk to about anything and everything. There were only a few things that I kept from her. She may have been my social worker back in the day, but now she was family, the very small amount I had.

  His hip rested on the counter next to me, his arms crossed over each other. “I’ve lost those I cared about and those I’ve hated. Both have stayed with me long afterward. This one, though, just pisses me off.”

  While I knew I shouldn’t, for the first time, I was too curious and asked, “Did he do something to your brothers?”

  He sighed deep then surprisingly answered, “Yeah. To all of us. Almost got me killed. Crow’s old lady, she took the brunt of the damage that lay in his aftermath. It’s been hell.”

  This had my gut pitching as a fear I hadn’t felt for a long time threatened to take me over. The world wouldn’t be the same without Wrong Way in it. That just wasn’t an option. There were always rumors about the Ravage MC and how dangerous they were, but this brought it home in a very personal way. He couldn’t get hurt.

  “Then I’m glad he’s gone.” It came out with a venom I didn’t quite get at the time, but would understand later.

  He reached over and pulled my head to his lips and kissed my forehead. “Me too. Glad to know you feel that way.”

  My body got a bit flustered. We were only friends with benefits, and sometimes those lines got a little blurry. Like right now, because for me it was difficult to talk about my past, but sometimes I felt like I could with him and only him.

  But I would never tell him specifics. This was the part of me that was hidden from the world. No one got in. Not Rocco. Not Ms. M. Not even Janey, and she knew more than anyone. I couldn’t crack that part of me open. For the first time, though, scarily, I wanted to.

  Instead of saying anything, I joked, “Yeah, who else would come over for a booty call.”

  If I kept him compartmentalized in my head, this would continue to work. It was how I survived on the streets, putting everyone in their own groups to remember their places in my life.

  There were the ones I couldn’t trust. The ones I could, which were few. Each person had a separate spot, and for my own sanity it needed to stay that way.

  He barked out a laugh, but his words were a bit harder than before. “There’d better not be anyone.”

  This comment did two things to me. One—made my insides melt. Two—scared the shit out of me. Once again, I brushed it off. “Nope. Just you.”

  “Better be.” He took a step back. “Do you have someone to talk to?” he asked bizarrely.

  While I did, I wouldn’t talk to them. “Yeah.”

  “You need to talk, I’m here.” He let me go, and I felt raw for a moment. Exposed. A feeling that I didn’t like one bit. Instead of answering, I stirred the pot.

  “I know what you did.” My body stilled at his tone. This could mean so many things, none of them good. I’d done lots in my years, not all of it I was proud of. Hell, most of it I wasn’t, but lately I had been. It didn’t mean I wanted others to know. My focus in life had always been to survive. At the time, I didn’t know why. Then as I got older and became established with money, I understood.

  This was the life intended for me. This was what I should be doing. Using my skills to help others who were like me before. While it was risky, it needed to be done.

  It didn’t stop the anxiety from rising, but doing everything to protect myself helped ease it.

  Masking my thoughts, my emotions, I carried on with my task. “What was that?” I asked, reaching into the cabinet to pull down two bowls and began to dish up the food.

  Thoughts swirled in my head of what this could be. Was it my latest conquest with Mr. Davidson? Did he know that I was able to get the money to each of the women anonymously? There had been so many instances lately that it could be anything.<
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  “Word around town is Alice Bernard got a huge settlement against the asshole who hit her.”

  I shrugged again, letting the tension leave my body. This was nothing.

  “That’s good,” I replied.

  His smile widened at my evasion. “Alice says you were the reason for it.”

  Shit. I didn’t think Alice would go around to everyone and tell them, but if this was the worst he heard about me, I’d take it. “Just helped her get some information on the asshole. She had two kids in the car and was rear ended. The asshole’s insurance wasn’t going to give them shit.”

  “Are you a detective now?”

  “Kinda. There are lots of shit people in the world. If I can help one of those wronged by the shit people, then I do my bit.” That might have been a bit too much information, but it was out there and ready to roll. Truth at its finest.

  “Don’t get yourself in with the wrong crowd,” he warned, my eyes snapping to his intense ones. “Know what you do, Hayden. Known for a while. Just don’t get involved in shit that will bring you down. Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves still had many battles, and not all of them were won. Don’t get in so deep you can’t see the light out.”

  His words felt like daggers as they came out. I could feel myself in pain with each one. He knew what I did. But how deep did he know? What exactly did he know?

  Hell, did I want him to tell me?

  “I won’t.” The words were a whisper. He never came out and said if he knew one way or the other. I still didn’t know if this included the jobs I didn’t get paid for. Hell, the ones I did get cash for were confidential. Told you the man was smart. And Alice running her mouth didn’t help the situation. That was done as a favor to Ms. M who was beside herself. I’d do just about anything for Ms. M, and this wasn’t a hardship.

  I motioned to the table. “Have a seat. I’ll bring it.”

  His head shook as he reached out and grabbed the bowls from me, taking them to the table. It was another thing that piqued my interest in the man. He was kind and gentle with me always.

  Sure, there were rumors out there of what the Ravage MC could do to people, but he’d never shown me that side of him. It was there, that was for certain. But he made me feel safe and not from just being in my house, but from everything in the world.

  I wasn’t a scaredy pants by any stretch of the imagination. I just didn’t trust. Didn’t trust that people would have my back. Hell, that anything would. I’d been let down too many times in my life. When I closed my eyes, I wanted peace. When my eyes were open, they were wide.

  It was why I hadn’t connected with a man. No one but Wrong Way, and I didn’t want him at first either. It may be pathetic, but it was the truth.

  Men had a large compartmentalized part of me. There was one I trusted completely. Rocco. Wrong Way was in the middle. While I trusted him with my body, that didn’t mean I’d trust him with anything else. There was just part of me that stayed shut off to everyone and everything.

  I grabbed the bread and moved to the table, sitting in the seat opposite Wrong Way.

  Keep things surface, Hayden. Or we’ll all get burned.

  8

  Wrong Way

  Hayden was an excellent cook, and I ate her dumplings like they were going to run out in the next five minutes. Home cooked meals didn’t really apply to me often, but she always filled the bill for me.

  It wasn’t just her skill in the kitchen. Hell, not by a long shot. Hayden was like no woman I’d known before. She was so damn smart when it came to computers and life in general. She had book smarts and street smarts down to a T. Not many women I’d run across had them both.

  Her brain was something I’d love to dig into and pick, just to learn exactly the way she ticked. While I’d learned a lot after researching her, nothing compared to when a woman openly talked to a man, letting him in.

  Given our arrangement it was understandable. We both held secrets and weren’t looking for anything more than a good time.

  “Was it good?” she asked with only a slight hesitation which was sexy as all hell. The woman knew she could damn well cook, but she gave a shit what I thought. Loved that.

  “Fuck yeah.”

  Her smile was wide as my cock grew harder. Her beauty put every other woman to utter shame. The curves of her body were unprecedented and all naturally hers. Between her tits and ass there wasn’t just one thing I loved about her. It was how her curves dipped from each feature to the next, creating a silhouette that no man could resist. She had meat and lots of it, perfect for grabbing on to and fucking hard.

  She grabbed the band from her hair and pulled it out. I watched as the long chestnut tresses fell in waves down her back. When I first met her, I thought for sure she had hair extensions, but from grabbing ahold of it, I knew it was all real. Everything on her was real.

  “Come here.” I reached around the table and grabbed her arm, pulling her to me. Her long legs straddled me, opening her robe so her pussy rested on my jeans. The tattoos on them called to me to lick every single detail of them. Cheshire cat with a very sly grin, a rose with a large pocket watch, a sugar skull on her thigh and a broken heart on her chest. She had so many that I just wanted to lick them all.

  Every single damn one of them telling the story of her life through art. Each illustration perfectly fitting with each dip and curve of her figure, like they were made to be exactly where they were on her body.

  On the inside of her thighs my come had dried, fueling the desire for her by ten. When we started, she would always clean herself after, but once I told her to wait and she did. Later, seeing my seed dry on her lit me up. She must’ve liked what happened after because she always let me dry on her afterward.

  Wrapping my hand around her hair, I pulled her head to me and took her lips in a deep, possessive kiss. She gave and I took. She took and I gave. It was a dance we played with each other until I was done and took every damn thing I could from her.

  Lifting up, everything went flying off the table in one full sweep of my arm. The crash of the dishes scattering echoed through the room. It didn’t faze Hayden as her legs wrapped around my hips, and I undid my jeans and let them fall to the floor.

  One swift thrust and my cock found heaven. So damn tight and wet just for me. All for me.

  The table shook with each of my thrusts. Her hair cascaded in a large sheet, falling off the sides and dangling down.

  Fuck, it was a sight.

  Her throaty moans had my hips pistoning harder, deeper, faster. Nowhere with Hayden was deep enough. Would never be deep enough. As she screamed out her release, I watched in awe, the way her back arched, the way her eyes rolled then her lids shut, the way she clenched around my cock so hard I could feel her everywhere.

  She felt perfect. Fucking perfect.

  Mine followed right behind, my cock jerking and draining itself into her tight, warm cunt. Fuck, she was something.

  It took me a few moments to catch my breath. When my eyes opened, she was looking into them. Fuck, they were an unbelievable shade of gray-blue. Add those into her dazzling smile, and I was spent.

  Falling back in the chair, Hayden started to pull up and close her legs. I stopped her instantly with a hand to each of her thighs.

  “What are you…?” she started, but I wasn’t looking at her anymore. No, my focus was on her core where slowly my come was falling out of her body, down her ass, and hitting the floor. Fuck me, that was hot.

  Not giving her a minute, I picked her body up and planted her on my cock once more. She cried out, and her head flew back. I could feel her hair tickling my hands at her ass as I squeezed.

  Her feet went to the rungs of the chair as she helped me lift her body up and down on my cock. Her hands came to the back of my neck, her nails digging in, no doubt slicing my flesh.

  As our climaxes hit once again, she sagged into my body, limp and sated. Her breathing was labored, matching my own.

  We sat like that for long momen
ts just letting the feel of one another sink into our memories. She felt so fucking good. Better than anything I’d ever felt before.

  Her heat lifted, and soft lips came to mine. One more passionate kiss before I needed to head out. If I stayed, I’d fuck her all night. That really wouldn’t be so bad. Would it?

  My lips fucking tingled as I made my way across Hayden’s yard, heading to the front door. It opened before I got there, the little old lady beaming up at me like I was the best thing she’d seen in her whole damn life.

  “There’s my boy!” Grams cheered, grabbing my cheeks and pulling me down to her, kissing my forehead. She didn’t release me. Instead, she peered deep into my eyes. It was as if she could look inside my soul and pick out all the shit I’d done in my years on this planet. It was also that she didn’t give two shits about any of that and loved me for me. Always had.

  It didn’t mean she didn’t want the best for me, though. She made that point often.

  “Hey, Gram,” I said, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her into my body. Only then did her hands release my face and go around my waist. Or try to go around it. She didn’t make it.

  She was a little thing, but don’t let that shit fool you. Firecracker wasn’t even the best word to describe her. Spitfire. Hellraiser. No nonsense. It was what made her the best.

  We parted, but her hands grabbed mine and held them tight. “It’s about time you got your ass here.”

  A grin tipped my lips. Loved this woman with everything inside of me. For her, I’d do anything.

  “Yeah, yeah. What’s on the huge ass to-do list?”

  Grams laughed, and it was a great sound, always had been. I’d come to live with Grams at nine-years-old when my parents died. She raised me into the man I became. I thought she did a damn good job.

  Grams took a small step back and held her index and thumb apart an inch. “There may be a few things I need help on.” She always did and more times than not it was more than just a few things.