by Krane, Kasey
I tried to walk up the front walk on my own but stumbled sidewise and almost ended up in the bushes. Leia and Bishop hurried to sling me between them and half-carried me into the house and down to the master bedroom. Someone - I wasn’t sure who - pulled my boots off, wiggled my cut down my arms and off my body, and then I was lying in bed. My head was lying on a regular pillow, dammit. I tried to say that I wanted Leia pillows instead, but then the world went dark and I couldn’t say anything at all.
19
Leia
“Knight just told us at the meeting about the Sangre kidnapping at the park,” Bishop told me. “We didn’t know that had happened - I know Knight is my Sgt. at Arms, but that doesn’t mean he should be trying to guard you all by yourself. I’ll be stationing two guards at the house ‘round the clock until we catch those bastards. They’ve terrorized two countries, kidnapped thirty girls, and tried to kidnap you. I don’t care if there’s only a few of them left - I’m not taking any chances.
“Is Knight making you wear a bullet-proof vest when you go out?”
I nodded uncomfortably. I wasn’t about to admit how much shit I had given Knight over the topic.
“Good. I know it’s not fun, but it could save your life.”
I grimaced but only nodded again. Desert heat plus a bullet-proof vest equaled misery.
“We’re gonna have dinner at my mom’s house this Sunday. Me and Jules, Judge and Carmen, and you guys, if you’ll come. My mom says she really likes you, so I hope you guys can make it. Two o’ clock. Tell Knight when he wakes up.”
“Yeah, can you tell me what the hell happened to him?” Finally, I could ask him a question and get him off the topic of those damned vests. “He left here completely sober. I thought he was going to a club meeting, not a drinking party.”
Bishop had the good grace to look chagrined. “Sometimes, it’s hard to tell the difference between the two,” he admitted. “But tonight…we were celebrating. Things got a little out of hand.”
“You’re not drunk, though,” I pointed out in my best I’m-being-patient-so-I’m-not-actually-yelling-at-you-right-now-even-though-I-want-to voice.
“Knight was celebrating a little more than the rest of us,” Bishop said cryptically. “See ya Sunday.”
I listened to the truck rumble off down the street, and then went into the bedroom to stand over Knight and watch him sleep. He let out a particularly loud snore and I couldn’t help the smile that spread over my face, my frustration at him melting away. When he was asleep, he looked years younger - the worry lines were gone, smoothed away with sleep.
I brushed some stray hairs away from his mouth, his rhythmic snore jerking at my touch. Well, there was nothing to do but get back to settling into the house. I had to figure out a place to put my blow-dryer and mousse and then I would be done, at least in the bathroom..
About thirty minutes later, I heard a knock at the front door. Peering through the peek hole, it looked like Dead Legion members, complete with red bandanas tied over their heads. I opened the door with a forced smile. “You must be the new bodyguards,” I said to them as I welcomed them into the house.
“Yeah, Bishop sent us over is. Is Knight around?” the shorter of the two men asked.
“He’s in the bedroom, sleeping.” I stared at them, hoping they’d tell me why Knight had passed out upon arrival to the house since Bishop wouldn’t, but all they did was look at each other and laugh.
“Okay, ma’am,” the shorter one finally responded. He seemed to be the one in charge. “We’re going to split up - one out front and one in the back. If we’re doing our job, you won’t even know we’re here.” With a nod, they split and headed outside. Curious, I followed the tall one to the sliding glass door leading into the backyard and watched him go around the corner to the garage, disappearing inside.
Huh. Well, they seem to be sure of where they’re going, which is a good sign, right?
I yawned. It had been another hell of a day - it wasn’t often that you moved in with the guy you’d been fighting with just an hour earlier. At least, I hoped it wasn’t often. I could finish unpacking tomorrow.
After changing into PJs, I crawled into bed next to Knight and curled up against his back, drifting off to sleep.
The next morning, I awoke before Knight. Stretching, I felt every muscle in my body pull and then relax. I hadn’t slept like that since I was a kid. Apparently, sleeping with Knight was some sort of sleeping pill.
I went back to unpacking, trying to figure out how to stuff all of my shorts into the remaining space in the dresser.
Minutes later, Knight awoke with a startled cry.
“You okay?” I asked, worry in my voice.
“Yeah,” he mumbled, cradling his head in his hands. His long hair, usually braided down his back, had come loose while he was sleeping, and was spread out over his back and shoulders in a curtain of straight, black, gorgeous hair.
I tried to stay on task, at least for the moment.
“Be right back,” I said, and hurried to the bathroom to get some aspirin and water. I handed him the medicine and then crawled into bed next to him. “Come here,” I said, settling against the headboard. I was going to play with his hair, dammit. I had been a good girl - it was about time I got to have some fun.
He snuggled his head into my lap and I played with his hair, running my fingers through the long, straight locks, letting the light glimmer on them.
“Want to tell me what you guys were celebrating?” I asked, breaking the comfortable silence. “Bishop told me yesterday that you were celebrating more than most, but wouldn’t tell me what.”
“Not really,” he mumbled. “But, I did volunteer to do the books for the club. Bishop is having a hard time keeping up with them, and I…I figured why not, right? Any of the guys can fix bikes or semis or whatever, but this is something I could be really good at.”
He paused and I wanted to respond and tell him congratulations and how cool I thought this idea was, but I didn’t. He wanted to say more and I wasn’t going to interrupt him.
“Leia, I wouldn’t have done this without you.” His eyes were closed but his body was tense and I was just sure that if he had been looking at me, he would’ve chickened out. This brave man who had killed Sangre and protected me with his life…he was scared to tell me this.
“My stepfather convinced me that I was nothing special and for a long time, I believed him. Even after I moved to Deming and Mary and James took me in…it was hard to believe that I was anything special. I couldn’t even talk. Of course I was stupid.
“But you…” He took a deep breath and still with his eyes shut, said, “You make me think I can do anything. Be anyone. Thank you…for moving in with me.”
And I knew he wanted to end that sentence differently but he didn’t and I could only believe that someday, maybe he’d be brave enough to say all of the words he was thinking.
But for now? This was enough. This was more than enough.
My voice cracked slightly. “Thank you, darlin’.” And we lay on the bed and I ran my fingers through his hair, and all was right with the world.
20
Knight
I had drifted back to sleep, so when Leia tried to wiggle her way out from underneath me, the movement woke me up.
But instead of grabbing for my Desert Eagle, panic thrumming through my veins like I had done so many times before when startled awake, I simply blinked, yawned, looked up at her, and drawled, “Are you going somewhere?”
“I have to go pee,” she confessed. “Like, a lot.” Her cheeks darkened and I chuckled. After what we had done together, she was blushing about pissing?
She was a girl, no question about it.
I rolled off her lap, freeing her to move off the bed. I heard the toilet flush, the water run, and then she reappeared at the bathroom doorway.
“Bishop invited us over to Mary’s house for dinner on Sunday. Did he say anything to you about it?”
“
Nope.” I was surprised by the invitation - we didn’t get together often at Mom’s house, although she was always begging for it to happen. Usually Bishop put her off for one reason or another. He must have some reason for saying yes this time.
“Oh, and he also assigned some Dead Legion members to guard us - said two a day, around the clock? One’s in the front yard and one in the back - they showed up last night.”
We had done that when protecting Carmen from the Sangre, but I hadn’t thought to do it with Leia. I had been spending way too much time thinking with my cock, and not enough time thinking with my noggin.
“Good,” I grunted. I rolled off the bed and took my own trip into the bathroom. I had drank enough to put a sailor to shame, and it felt like every drop of moisture in my body was coming out of my piss hole right now.
When the rain came pouring down, it startled both of us. Leia peered out the window.
“Knight, you have to come look at this! Do you guys get monsoons here??” The excitement was almost visible in her voice. I zipped up and came out of the bathroom to stand next to her by the bedroom window. We watched the rain come down in sheets.
“Yeah, we do. It’s been weirdly dry for the last week or so, but usually, one of these every afternoon. It’s a little early today.” A quick glance at the clock told me that it wasn’t all that early, after all. Man, I hadn’t slept that much in a long time. “Why? You get ‘em up in Albuquerque?”
“Oh yes! They’re my favorite to watch. C’mon Knight, let’s go watch it from the back porch.” She grabbed my wrist and began pulling me through the house. I let her, mostly because I wanted to go but why take away her fun of directing me there, right? Plus, this way she was touching me, even if it was just on the wrist.
We went through the sliding back door and onto the back porch, which was just a metal roof over a concrete patio. I usually didn’t spend much time in my backyard - it was as uninspiring as the rest of my house - but now, watching the curtains of rain falling, smelling the fresh air, wrapping my arms around Leia and pulling her against my chest…my backyard was suddenly a hell of a lot more awesome than it had ever been before.
The rain stopped as quickly as it started. It seemed like just moments later when the sun was making its reappearance, baking the world once again in its boiling heat, steam rising off every available surface, making the Sonoran desert strangely humid.
“Oh Knight, it’s so fun! It never occurred to me that you guys would have monsoons all the way down here. Mom and I used to sit outside and watch the rain pour down together…” Her voice trembled a little then, which terrified me. If she cried, then I would have to know what to do with her, and hell if I knew what to do with a crying female.
Staving off death, destruction, and female tears, I said hurriedly, “Have you ever gone out into the desert after a heavy rain?”
She turned in my arms, staring up into my face. “Oh no, I haven’t. Is it nice?” She dabbed a little at her eyes with the back of her hands and I knew I had barely escaped a full meltdown.
“Let’s go to the mountains.”
It was my turn to pull her through the house, although I took her hand instead of her wrist, and found that her soft hand fit perfectly into mine. I probably had more dirt under one fingernail than she did on both hands, and more callouses on my pinky than she did on her whole body, but somehow, we balanced each other out.
Leia disappeared into the bathroom and came out with her hair in a braid, and the bulletproof vest on. She didn’t look happy, but she did look ready. I was proud of her for not whining endlessly about putting it on, which meant kissing her, which meant a ten-minute delay in which I wondered if I ought to take the vest off her…and everything else.
But I pulled away slowly, nibbling her lips, sucking at them, until her eyes slowly drifted open, her brown-and-green flecked eyes dazed and sexy as fuck.
I pulled away, adjusted myself as discretely as possible, and then forced out, “You ready?” And she was kind enough to ignore that my voice was higher than normal.
“Let’s do this,” she said with a saucy grin, and we walked out into the heat of the afternoon, the baking sun evaporating the last of the monsoon rain from the pavement. I let out a piercing whistle, and Judge dropped out of a tree to the ground in front of us.
“Who’s with you?”
“Tats.”
“You and Tats go into the house and hang out in the AC. We’re going for a ride.”
Judge, looking a little bedraggled by the dousing from the monsoon, agreed eagerly. I backed my Duo Glide out of the garage and into the street, waited for Leia to hop on behind me, and then took off.
I never understood people who were afraid of motorcycles. They weren’t something to be afraid of - they were something to love. When I was on one, nothing else mattered. The prejudices in the world, the hatred, my stuttering - it all disappeared behind me, melting away into nothingness. It was…freedom. Pure, unadulterated freedom.
But, with Leia on the back? I realized that it was freedom, and love.
Love.
Oh fuck.
I was falling in love with Leia.
It’s one thing to want to fuck her fine ass but love? That is something else completely.
We began winding our way up the foothills, gradual switchbacks giving way to dramatic ones as we began to climb real mountains, the air getting cleaner and sweeter the higher they went. And thank God, cooler.
I’d never loved anyone before. Not that kind of love. I’d never even wanted to spend the night for a week straight with the same woman. But with Leia’s arms wrapped around me, even though I can’t feel her fucking amazing tits pressed against me - damn vest - I…wanted that. I wanted it all. I wanted her every night.
Was that love?
The low-level ache I had always carried with me since James’s death, the death of the only man who ever loved me like a son, blossomed strong and bright again within me. I didn’t even know the name of my biological father - my mother had refused to put him on my birth certificate and had told me nothing beyond the fact that he was white.
And my stepfather, he sure as fuck was no father figure to me.
But James…there was a man who’d loved me like his own son, and at this very moment, I wanted nothing more than to ask him how he knew. How did James know that he wanted to marry Mary? How did James know that she was the woman for him?
And how could I know?
I guess I could ask Bishop or Judge. It still seemed a little weird to go to them for dating advice since it was hard to shake the memory of them as 11-year-old boys, running around the warehouse, begging the Dead Legion members for rides on their Harleys. But hell, they’d managed to find two pretty cool chicks to hook up with, and didn’t seem to have any regrets from that choice.
We reached the top of Diamond Peak and I pulled off into an overlook area. The state had put money into railing and a large parking lot since this was such a popular destination for local residents, but with the sun blistering down on them, no one else was stupid enough to be out there with us. I and Leia had the lookout spot to ourselves.
I waited for Leia to dismount and then swung off too. I missed the low rumble of the Harley engine now that it was gone - like a true gearhead, I was happiest on the back of a bike - but then I pulled Leia against my chest and looked down into her sparkling eyes and decided that maybe for the moment, I was actually quite happy, even with the motor turned off.
And wasn’t that a hell of a commentary.
She grinned up at me, her bouncing curls swirling around her face. “So did we come up here to stare at each other or at the scenery?” she teased me.
I kissed her just because I could, and then pulled her over to the railing so she could see the valley below. It was a brilliant green, the kind of green in a desert that can only be found right after a rainstorm.
I intertwined my fingers in hers. “You asked me once how I can handle living in the desert - in the relent
less heat. This is it. Mountains. Almost all desert people are actually mountain people. It’s how you escape.” We turned to look at the retreating monsoon, clusters of dark billowing clouds dotting the skyline. Deming wasn’t the only area to get a monsoon today, but at the moment, the skies overhead were still clear, and the air was still sweet.
“I love the smell after a rainstorm,” Leia said, echoing my thoughts.
21
Knight
“The rumor coming in off the street is that the Outlaws are wanting to push back into Deming,” Bishop said, the anger vibrating in his voice as he looked around the chapel. “I told those fuckers when I allowed them to live that they were to leave, and never come back. They obviously don’t understand the English language. Maybe they’ll understand the bullet kind.”
“Knight,” he turned and focused on me, “I know I told you to discourage Leia against going to see her dad in Playas, but I really need some intel from inside that club. If they’re actually going to try to take Deming back, they’re gonna have a turf war on their hands. I need to know how many members they have, what kind of arsenal they have, how the setting up of the clubhouse is going, and whatever else you can get out of them. If Leia wants to go visit her dad, you have to go with her, and you have to get back inside of that clubhouse again.”
I simply nodded. It absolutely sucked to use Leia as bait, but if she wanted to go…well, I would go along to protect her anyway, right? So, why not get some intel while I was there?
I squelched the guilt curling up in my gut. I could feel guilt later, when the club and Leia were safe from these assholes.
“No sign of the missing Sangre,” Bishop said. “The police are still on the lookout but they just disappeared. Their best guess is that the Sangre made it back down to Mexico. Not much we can do there, except if you see ape-hanger motorcycles tooling around, tell me ASAP. I wanna kill those sons of bitches with my bare hands.”
