Inciting a Riot: A Riot MC Novel #2

by Karen Renee

My eyebrow arched, and before I could stop myself, I snapped, “Do not call me ‘Rainey’ right now, mister.”

  At this point, Cal strode inside carrying two overnight bags and the brunette turned around and I saw Mallory wearing jeans with a sweet-ass Triumph tank top. Well, shit. Now who had a face that was screaming jealousy! Perhaps Marnie’s nieces deserved a modicum of my sympathy. Oh, who was I fooling, I might be jealous, but I wasn’t a backstabbing bitch on top of it.

  Vamp turned to me at my angry tone, and actually smiled at me. Then he said, “You are so gone for me.”

  “Cary Sullivan, stop it. Right now.”

  Mallory’s eyes got big and a smile split her face. She looked between me and Vamp and said, “Your name is Cary.”

  Cal rumbled, “Mallory.”

  I didn’t know how he did it, but even though he rumbled, it still sounded like he practically sang out her name. Based on Mallory’s response, I wasn’t the only one who heard it that way.

  “Cal, do not make my name sound like a song right now. His name is Cary –”

  “My name is Vamp,” Cary interrupted, only to continue with, “And you’re going to find out why that’s my road name, if you don’t drop it.”

  Nearly all bikers were alpha men at heart, so needless to say, Cal said to Vamp, “Let me handle my woman, Vamp. She won’t bring this shit up again. Believe me.”

  Vamp gave him a chin-lift, and said, “You can put your bags in my bedroom for now. Frankie and I both need to shower, but if you two need to change or whatever, you’re welcome to do that after we’re done. Or there’s a half-bath off the living room, if you don’t need an actual shower.”

  Cal took four large steps to reach our room. He came back out to the hall where we were standing, and said, “We don’t need a shower, but thanks for giving us a place to stow our stuff, man. Now, where is your Pop? Ain’t seen him since December of last year. Can’t wait to congratulate him on snagging a good one.”

  Mallory glowered at Cal. “You can’t be serious! ‘Snagging a good one!’ Is everything a fishing reference for you? Ugh,” she groaned.

  I sighed, “At the risk of being rude, what are you two doing here?”

  Vamp and Cal chuckled, “Baby, they’re here for Pop’s ceremony. Known Cal as long as I’ve known you, and he’s met my family. Don’t know that Pop thinks of Cal as the older son he never had so much as I think he believes him to be the older nephew he never had, but Cal’s as much part of the family as you are, Rainey.”

  Cal and Mallory seemed to share a look, and then Cal asked, “Back to ‘Rainey’ now, are you?”

  I gave a small chuckle. “We haven’t decided on that, just yet.”

  Before I could say anything further, Vamp said, “But as far as I’m concerned, I’ll always be Cary for her.”

  The stairs interrupted us as they creaked under the weight of Cary’s father coming down, and he said, “Well, I’ll be happy to hear that he’s Cary so long as she is still ‘Lorraine’ or ‘Rainey’, because this ‘Frankie’ business is a bunch of bullshit. No offense intended, my dear, but you’ve got an incredibly beautiful name. Use it.”

  My eyes rolled up to my eyebrows as I gently shook my head at him. When my eyes returned to their normal position, Warren was at the bottom of the stairs, shaking Cal’s hand.

  “Good to see you again, Cal, and it’s damn sure high time you brought your woman to meet me,” he said with an unusual emphasis on the word ‘woman’ that I didn’t understand.

  Vamp caught my puzzled look, but I heard Mallory mumble, “Truly?”

  Cal chuckled, “Mr. Sullivan, this is my woman, Mallory Pierce. Mallory, this is Vamp’s father, Warren Sullivan.”

  Warren lifted Mallory’s outstretched hand and kissed the top of it and then said, “A pleasure to meet you. It’s about time someone snatched up this handsome devil and put my worries to rest.”

  Mallory blushed as she lowered her hand back to her side. “It’s nice to meet you too, sir. Happy to put your worries to rest, but I’m sure you never had anything worry about with Cal.”

  Warren shook his head. “Not true. Every man needs the love of a good woman, and I’ve thought of Cal as a son for nearly a decade now. If there’s anything a father does, it’s worry about his sons finding happiness. It is a shame you two missed last night’s dinner, though.”

  “Sorry about that, sir, had club business to attend to last night,” Cal said.

  Marnie came down the stairs at that point, and said, “Yes, you missed a helluva good time.”

  Warren reached out and put an arm behind Marnie’s waist and tucked her to his side, “That’s right, Mallory, especially, missed a good time. I suspect she would have been in the restroom when Lorraine stuck up for my son.”

  Cal chuckled, “She stuck up for Vamp, huh? That sounds like a great story.”

  *** ***

  Warren and Marnie had an appointment at the courthouse at four in the afternoon, so Mallory and I decided to kill some time doing what all women love to do. We went shopping. Mallory wanted to expand her ‘biker babe’ wardrobe, as she called it, and I told her there wasn’t anywhere better to do that than in Daytona. We started off at Hot Leathers on Main Street, and Mallory bought at least half a dozen tops. I was going to buy some too, but then I realized I really needed a dress for today’s shindig. I mentioned this to Mallory and she wholeheartedly agreed.

  We left the main drag, and I directed Mallory to a strip mall so we could check out One Sexy Biker Chick. It was a place I had always loved to shop six years ago, and thankfully, they were still in business. They didn’t have many dresses, which was disappointing, though not surprising, seeing as dresses did not lend themselves to riding bitch. Mallory was browsing on the opposite side of the store from me. I was ambling over her way when a gorgeous pair of boots caught my eye. They were almost knee-high, black leather, and embellished with glittering crystals that formed a Maltese Cross. I reached out to check the size when my eye caught the price tag. I gasped to see they cost $3,200 because they were encrusted with Swarovski crystals! Jesus! I forgot how pricey women’s biker merchandise could be! Maybe if I made the credit union’s “President’s Club” for closing over twenty-five million in loans for the quarter, I could splurge and get those for myself. Why? You could buy at least five pairs of Manolos or some Louboutins, and those you could actually wear to the office. I had to back away from the shoes, pronto.

  I found Mallory eyeing a wall displaying boy-short-style underwear-slash-short-short-shorts, all with smart-ass comments or pictures on the backside.

  “Weird to have so many pairs of undies with sassy sayings.”

  I cleared my throat meaningfully and arched an eyebrow at her. Her facial expression changed as she caught my meaning.

  “You can’t be serious?”

  “Have you been to Bike Week?”

  Mallory grimaced, “Not talking about that, but I get what you’re saying. What’s that reminiscent look for?”

  I debated how much to share with her, but I nodded at a pair of underwear and said, “Used to have a tank top that said that: ‘If I straddle it, it’s mine.’”

  Mallory’s jaw dropped open a little. “Impressive.”

  Since dresses were in short supply at One Sexy Biker Chick, we walked three doors down and found a shop called Rebel’s Market. They had anything and everything you could want for any event from a Bike Week rally to an underground party. They had retro-rockabilly dresses, punk dresses and corsets with matching pants, and sugar-skull-patterned dresses. No matter what direction your flair went, from bohemian to Goth to punk, that awesome shop had it all covered.

  Mallory opted for a vintage, rockabilly, floral-lace dress in a very flattering shade of maroon. It was a great dress, but too conservative for me for the occasion. Maybe it was retail therapy after being told I couldn’t go back to work for a bit, but I decided I had to have the vintage pin-up, bow-halter-neck floral-print A-line dress. It was absolutely a sweet
retro dress that kicked ass in a big way. The dress was baby blue with white and pink roses on the vine printed all over the dress, but there was a shock of red fabric beneath the asymmetric hem of the floral-patterned fabric. The same red fabric was also over the breasts, but not the entire bust of the dress, and it gathered in the valley of my cleavage and flared out with two thick ribbons of the fabric so it looked like my ta-tas were wrapped up like a present. I knew it would drive Vamp crazy.

  Mallory also picked up a black, Goth, high-waist A-line mini-dress, printed with constellations of stars, which I would have loved to buy, but it wasn’t exactly wedding material and I wouldn’t possibly be taken seriously by mortgage customers wearing something like that. It was a really good thing that Mallory and Cal had come down in his Mustang because she nearly filled the trunk with all of her additions to her wardrobe.

  We left the shop with our bags, and Mallory said, “I think we’re set.”

  I gave her a sideways glance. “Um, no, we’re not.”

  “We’re not?”

  “Shoes, woman.”

  She groaned. “Did Vamp tell you to call me that, or something?”

  “No, why? Or more to the point, why would he need to?”

  With a chuckle, she said, “It’s one of my hot buttons, and ultimately one of the things that drew me and Cal together. Vamp’s dad went out of his way to use it, so I just figured maybe he coached you about it, too.”

  “Nope, can’t say that he did, but I was wondering why Mr. S put so much emphasis on the word ‘woman’, so that explains that. Now, you might have brought dress shoes with you, but I didn’t, so let’s find a decent department store.”

  We went to the mall and I found a stunning pair of blood-red strappy high-heel sandals. There was a bow accent across the top of the open toe, and an ankle strap at the back. I never thought I’d find a pair of shoes to compliment my dress, but it was like the universe was trying to tell me I was meant to have this dress and shoes.

  We were driving down A1A when Mallory asked me, “So, what’s the deal with being invited to a justice of the peace wedding? I mean, I get the impression that there were lots of family and friends at last night’s festivities, so why not have a normal ceremony and a reception?”

  I shrugged, “I don’t know really, but I would imagine that, since it’s the second time around for both of them, they don’t want to deal with the expensive and stressful hassle of a wedding. Last night’s party was a great time. It really is too bad you guys missed it.”

  “Believe me, I wish we had made it now, because I would have loved to hear you stick up for Vamp.”

  I shook my head and groaned, “Those bitches had it coming.”

  She giggled, and then asked, “So, are you and Vamp really back together? I mean you came out in a man’s dress shirt, and he was only half-dressed, which doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but I thought you weren’t going there again.”

  I sighed, “He wore me down. I think he’s changed, and if he has, then I owe it to both of us to see what might come of us.”

  Mallory pulled into the drive of the Sullivan residence, and I noticed the center console indicated it was two-thirty. We had to be at the courthouse annex before four in order to make the appointment, and it was a half-hour drive to get there. That left me with only an hour to get ready. I hadn’t showered after Cal and Mallory showed up, mainly because I figured I was going to go shopping for something good to wear, and I would want to shower afterwards.

  We walked into the house, and all that could be heard was laughter. Lots of male laughter to be precise, and it was a wonderful sound to hear. Mallory and I exchanged a look, and we wound our way into the dining room to find Cal, Vamp, his brothers, and his father, all seated around the dining room table playing poker.

  Cal caught sight of Mallory before any of the other men noticed our presence.

  “You break the bank yet, Firecracker?”

  “You are so funny, Cal. No, I did not break the bank, but I definitely found a ton of great biker-babe attire. What are you guys doing?”

  Brock gave Mallory a grin, “Well, we couldn’t throw our father a bachelor party, that would be totally weird, so we’re letting him beat us at poker.”

  “Letting me beat you?” Warren asked.

  Vamp threw an arm over the back of his seat, and turned to look at me, “Hey, babe. I assume you got what you were after, since you’re standing there holding two bags.”

  I smiled at him, “Sure did. I’m going to shower and get ready. We’re leaving at three-thirty, right, Mr. S?”

  “I told you, no more of this ‘Mr. S’ malarkey. Call me ‘Dad’ or call me ‘Warren’. To answer your question though, we leave at three-twenty. Clerk of courts won’t marry you if you aren’t in the office before four o’clock, and I ain’t takin’ any chances. We got a cruise to catch tomorrow, bright and early.”

  Well, that gave me less than an hour to get ready, which meant I had to hustle. I gave them all a chin-lift, turned on my heel, and got down to the business of tricking myself out for Warren’s wedding.

  CHAPTER 14

  I was down to ten minutes before it was what Cary called ‘go time.’ I knew that, because he had tried turning the handle to the bathroom door, but I had locked it. He followed up with a knock on the door, and told me I was cutting it close. I sighed at this news, because I had only halfway dried my hair, and I really wanted to try to blow it out straight. With a scant ten minutes, that wasn’t happening without sacrificing my makeup, and let’s face it, a pin-up-girl style dress demanded dramatic makeup or you weren’t doing the dress justice.

  I went heavy on the dark eye-liner and gave my eyelids a smoky finish for extreme drama. My shiner was healing quickly, but it was still a garish mixture of yellow and green. The upside was that those colors were far easier to hide with copious amounts of concealer. I hadn't remembered to pack my blush in my tiny toiletry kit, so I swiped some mascara on, and then lined and filled in my lips with blood-red lipstick. I stepped back to assess my handiwork, and realized I seriously needed to do something about my hair. I wished I had bangs so I could go for a Betty Page look, but that was not happening. I found a round roller brush, fired up the hair dryer again, and teased my hair up at the top for maximum volume. The remainder had to be left to air-dry, and in fact it had already started to dry; the natural waves of my hair had already formed. I pulled my hair forward on each side and let it settle in front of my shoulders. The waves were big and full; luckily they weren’t showing signs of frizzing.

  It would have to do.

  I unlocked and opened the bathroom door to find Vamp leaning his hips against the dresser on the opposite wall of the bedroom from me. Instead of a white dress shirt, he was wearing a midnight-blue dress shirt which seriously accentuated his eyes when I did not think such a thing was even possible. His lower half was decked out in his standard jeans and black leather motorcycle boots. He had his phone out and was swiping at screens on it. Looking up at me, his eyes flared and he shoved the phone into his back pocket.

  “Come. Here. Now,” he growled at me as he straightened from the dresser.

  I got within arm’s reach of him, and he grabbed my hand in order to yank me to him. Then, still holding my hand, he put it on his crotch.

  “You feel that?” he asked.

  I pressed my lips together and blinked. “Sure do.”

  “That just happened when I got a look at you in this fucking sexy-as-all-hell pin-up-girl outfit. It sucks that you cut your timing so damn close, because otherwise I’d be inside you right now. But you didn’t factor my hard-on into your primp time, so I’ll have to punish you for that later.”

  My head tilted. “Punish me? Why?”

  A wry grin twisted his lips, “Because I’m going to be punished all fuckin’ afternoon, or at least until I can fuck your brains out while you’re wearing this fuckin’ grade-A dress.”

  I frowned slightly. “So, an eye for an eye, is it?” />
  He gave me a shit-eating grin. “More like tit for tat, babe.”

  Then he lowered his head and kissed me senseless. When he broke the kiss, I opened my eyes and hazily noticed that most of my lipstick was smeared all over his lips. I was entranced by seeing this because it occurred to me that it was kind of a feminine way of marking my man. Vamp’s lips tipped up in a shy smile.

  “Like seeing you dazed by my kiss, Rainey.”

  That sent a shock of warmth curling through my torso. With a smile I said, “I like seeing my lipstick all over your lips.”

  “Oh, hell. Tell me you are shittin’ me,” he said with a playful swat to my ass.

  I pulled out of his hold, “Don’t start something you can’t finish, mister.”

  Vamp had turned to the mirror on the dresser and his eyes caught mine in the reflection, “Consider it phase one of your punishment. Now, go reapply your lipstick.”

  When I was done with my lipstick, Vamp had left the bedroom. I could hear him chatting with his brothers and Cal. I stepped out just as Mallory came down the stairs wearing her maroon dress.

  “Jesus, Frankie! I’m one hundred percent into men, but I think I have a girl-crush on you right now. You are on-fire hot.”

  I shook my head at her while my body shook with silent laughter, then I murmured, “Thanks for that, girlie.”

  We went into the living room to find Cal, Vamp, Brock, and Gabe sitting around shooting the shit. We got two steps into the room when I heard Cal take in a sharp breath, while Brock and Gabe groaned.

  Gabe had a salacious smile on his face when he asked me, “You sure you’re into my brother again? Maybe you need a Sullivan man who’s closer to your age.”

  Brock was sitting next to him and he gave him an elbow to his ribs, “No, she doesn’t. She needs me in her life, not you or Cary. Either of you hotties got a sister? Help a guy out here. Seriously.”

  Vamp was sitting in an armchair opposite his younger brothers, but said, “Shut it, asswipes. She’s mine.”

  Cal chuckled a little. “You aren’t the first one to ask Mallory if she’s got a sister. You’ll just have to be patient and wait for the right one to come along, Brock.”