Rampage

by Naomi West

  But then something amazing happened. Over the months, she began to change. Slowly at first, but then quicker and quicker. She started going to exercise class and social events, laughing again, acting like her old self again. One day I walked into the bathroom, only to have her jump out from behind the door, scaring the lights out of me. But that’s the old Mom, and that’s who I had long dreamed of meeting again.

  I play peekaboo with Jack and his laughter pushes on more memories, like the time Dusty sat us all down and explained that Greg was never going to bother us again. He didn’t tell us if he was dead or if he was just gone, and nobody asked; I don’t think anybody wants to know. We’re just happy that we never have to shiver in the night for fear of his fists again. That’s all we care about.

  And then—as Jack’s giggles become almost manic, causing me to smile so widely my cheeks ache—I think about Dusty, how our love has blossomed and grown like the flowering of a rose. I think about the long nights spent in each other’s arms, or the times he’s talked to me for hours about his mother and stepfather, about the time she was killed, reliving it and healing a little with each retelling. I think about the sex and the kissing and the weekends spent in our underwear. Life has moved on now. Dusty is working as a mechanic at a local garage and a personal trainer at a local gym, and I’m working as a nanny for a rich couple, saving my pennies so that I can enroll in a community college course one of these semesters. My life dream came to me like an epiphany. It was obvious, once I realized it. I’m going to be a social worker. I’m going to try and make the world a better place for people like Mom and Travis and a worse place for people like Greg.

  I stand up once Jack begins to fall asleep and go into the bedroom. I make the bed and clear away Dusty’s clothes—even if he’s left the outlaw life, he still has their habit of messiness—and then get dressed for work. It feels odd to leave my child to go and look after another couple’s, but it’s only for a while longer. Anyway, I trust Mom to take care of Jack now, something I never would’ve guessed at even a few months ago.

  I tie my scarf around my neck (a look I’ve adopted because it makes me look more sophisticated) and go downstairs, where Mom is pouring Travis his cereal.

  “We’re writing a story today,” Travis says, smiling at me. “Mine’s going to be about aliens.”

  “That sounds great.” I rub him on the head.

  He pushes my hand away, smoothing down his hair. He’s growing it out lately and sometimes spends up to an hour brushing and straightening it. To give him credit, though, it does look pretty spectacular.

  “Jack’s asleep now, Mom—”

  “I have my baby monitor. I have his special food.” She winks at my breasts, a bad joke the first time she did it. This must be the thousandth, and it hasn’t gotten any funnier. “You go and make that bacon.”

  “All right, Mom,” I say, still half expecting the old Mom to emerge one of these days, the quiet, beaten-down Mom. But she doesn’t. She keeps surprising me.

  I make for the door, my smile growing even wider when I hear the growl of an engine outside.

  Dusty

  She still looks like my Marilee as she walks toward my bike, but love and pregnancy and time have changed her. There are no bruises on her now, for one thing, but it’s more than that. Her smile is brighter; her eyes more full of life. She looks like somebody who is genuinely happy to be alive, not at all like the conflicted girl I first met. I guess she’s done the same to me, too. Although that doesn’t mean I don’t find her as hot as all hell with that little scarf around her neck, her pants tight and her shirt buttoned down just enough to show the tiniest sliver of skin. Today’s a big day, a momentous day, but that doesn’t stop my body from stirring. I wonder if she’ll ever stop making me rock-hard. I doubt it.

  “This is a surprise,” she says, placing her hand atop mine. “I thought you were working.”

  “I was, but I worked damn quick, so I could get here in time.”

  “What’s going on?” She pouts at me as I hand her the helmet, because she can read my face. She reads my face better than I read books, goddamn. She puts the helmet on, saying, “You’re messing up my hair, you bastard.”

  “Just get on the damn bike.” I hand her my leather, the same one I’ve worn for years, except now without the Filthy Fools logo on the back.

  She climbs on and I ride through town, heading toward the big fancy house where she does her babysitting gig. But the feel of her hands on me is too much to handle, the way she squeezes down on my abs. I know her pretty damn well by now, maybe even better than I know myself. I was there when little Jack was born and I was there when she woke up at night from nightmares about Greg. So I know when she wants me, and she wants me now.

  I take a detour, heading for the garage instead. I take her to the storage shed at the back and lead her inside, locking the door behind us. “This is so wrong,” she says. “I try so hard to be good and you always make me bad.”

  “Don’t play games with me.”

  We head deep into the shed, past hunks of metal and old engine parts and boxes piled atop boxes until we come to a quiet nook at the back where a tarpaulin has fallen over the aisle, turning it into a secret place. There are times we fuck and there are times we make love, and I reckon there’s no question about which category this falls into. We fuck like mad. I pull her to me and kiss her forcefully, and then grab her and turn her around. She yanks down her pants and sticks her ass out, moaning and begging me to fuck her, and I fuck her, goddamn do I fuck her, fuck her like I’ve never fucked before.

  I told her once that she had a magic pussy. She took it as a joke but I’m not sure I was joking. It’s the tightest, warmest place in the world, the safest place; it’s home. She bucks up and down in that way only she can do, driving us both to orgasm. When we come, it’s together.

  We tidy ourselves up and then Marilee says, “Huh, that’s weird.”

  “What?”

  “Look what I just found? It must’ve been in my pocket. I didn’t even realize.” She turns to me, holding out the Zippo lighter I gave her way over a year ago. “I think you should have this back. After all, I quit smoking.”

  I close her hand over the lighter and push it toward her chest. “It’s yours, just like my heart is yours, just like everything is yours.”

  “Ooh.” She grins playfully. “Somebody’s in a romantic mood.” Her playful grin drops. “What is it? You’re planning something. Don’t think I can’t tell.”

  I swallow, suddenly nervous. “Come with me.” I take her by the hand and lead her back outside to the bike.

  “Are we making another detour?” she asks.

  “Something like that.”

  Once again, she grabs onto my abs and I ride through the Texan sun, the best darn sun in America, at least today when I have my lady with me, when life is looking up like it hasn’t since I was a kid. I take her into the suburbs, to a four-bedroom house with a For Sale sign outside. It’s made in a colonial style, the way every house is in this section of outer-Austin. The door is bright green and the walls are pale blue. The realtor pitched it as a rainbow house. It’s a description that fits perfectly.

  “What’s this?” she asks, stepping from the bike.

  “I’m not sure.” I run forward and punch the For Sale sign, causing it to collapse onto the grass.

  “Dusty!” she squeals. “You can’t do—Wait!”

  I turn to her, smiling like a real fool, smiling so that if the old Dusty saw me now, he’d call me an idiot for showing so much happiness. But I’m happy, and there’s no changing that. And I’m about to be way happier. I hope so, at least.

  “This is our place,” I tell her. “I had some money saved and, well, little Jack needs a home. And don’t worry, I’ve already talked to your mom. I have her blessing. For the house, and for this . . .”

  I take the ring box from my back pocket and kneel down, open it and say, “Marilee, will you marry—”

  She t
hrows herself at me, tackling me onto the grass. “Is that a yes?” I laugh, catching her.

  “A yes?” She grabs the ring box, takes the ring, and slides it onto her finger. “What do you think? Of course, it’s a yes.” She kisses me on the face, the neck, the chin, anywhere her kisses happen to land. “You’re the best man I know, Dusty Ripton, the best man I’ll ever know.”

  “That’s not true,” I say, happy to lie here on the grass awhile. “I reckon little Jack Ripton will be the best man either of us ever know.”

  THE END

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  Books by Naomi West

  Click any of the covers below to go straight to the book page!

  Ravage: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Demon Riders MC)

  I CAME TO HURT HER. I STAYED TO SAVE HER.

  I used to think I had my life all planned out.

  Take over the MC when my father dies, marry a lady from the club, and maybe have a kid or two.

  That was before my dad gave me a mission with his dying breath.

  Now, I have to find some girl I’ve never met and do whatever it takes to reclaim the fortune that rightfully belongs to the Demon Riders MC.

  But when I find the girl I’m looking for, all my plans fall apart.

  She’s too d@mn beautiful and the $ex is too hot.

  I can’t do the bad things I was sent to do.

  Especially when she confesses that she knows nothing about our missing fortune.

  But when she’s stolen from me by a rival mafia group, money is the last thing I’m thinking about.

  I’ll protect my woman, at all costs.

  And I’ll slaughter any man who tries to take her from me.

  Ruin: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Butchers MC)

  I’ll move heaven and earth to get what I want: my baby in her belly.

  GRIZZLY

  I have a shared past with the girl behind the bar…

  ... and now I have to convince her we might have a future together, too.

  She says her name is Ana, but I always knew her as "Duchess".

  Her lush curves and haughty airs are just as regal as I remember.

  She’s not just a bartender…

  She's a queen, perfect for the man at the helm of the Butchers MC – me.

  And I intend to have her. At any cost.

  Ana will ride with me now.

  She'll help me heal the wounds we share.

  She'll bear my child, and I'll finally be the one to protect her.

  She just doesn't know it yet.

  Ryder: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Midnight Hunters MC) (Dirty Daring Devils Book 3)

  I ruined her body to save her soul.

  She saved me from a cold death.

  I repaid her with a night of hot and sweaty favors.

  But even though we’re stranded alone…

  There’s danger waiting in the shadows.

  As soon as I find the motherf**kers who tried to kill me, I’m gonna start a war.

  No one puts Ryder in a ditch.

  But first, I need to survive this snowstorm.

  Kara’s in a different kind of mess.

  She’s running from a cheating ex and a miserable life.

  Together, we huddle up in an abandoned cabin while the blizzard rages outside.

  Just her, me, and a bottle of whiskey.

  And as my wounds heal, her icy exterior melts.

  It doesn’t take long before our clothes fall off and I show her the biker way.

  Moan after moan, her toes curling, my hands claiming.

  It’s as hot in here as the night is cold.

  But our little tryst doesn’t last for long.

  There are killers after me, and cowards after her.

  She’ll have to make a choice:

  Is she willing to go back to a life she hated?

  Or can she trust me enough to leave everything behind?

  Xavier: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Reaper’s Hearts MC) (Dirty Daring Devils Book 2)

  She’s a beautiful pawn in a dangerous game.

  All I wanted was a one-night stand.

  But Kenzie’s father had other plans.

  I used his girl to satisfy my own savage pleasure…

  So he’s gonna use her to put me in the dirt.

  XAVIER

  I take what I want.

  Always have, always will.

  Kenzie was no different.

  Those curves were a drug.

  And I planned on overdosing – all night long.

  But it’s not all fun and games.

  There’s an evil son of a b!tch behind the scenes – her father.

  He’s pulling Kenzie’s strings.

  Trying to get me killed.

  And it’s only gonna get worse when he finds out our dirty little secret:

  I put a baby in his daughter’s belly.

  KENZIE

  I couldn’t resist a man like him.

  And Xavier never even gave me the choice.

  Just took me in those strong, tattooed hands…

  And made me beg for his touch.

  But the biker’s kiss comes with a whole lot of baggage.

  Skeletons in the closet – both literal and figurative.

  Motorcycle club ties that might bring my whole world crashing down on my head.

  So when my father threatens me into hurting the man I love, I’m torn.

  One one hand, Xavier is an enemy of my family.

  A killer.

  A true b@stard if ever there was one.

  But there’s something else, something my father hasn’t yet discovered…

  Xavier is also the father of my baby.

  Wheeler: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Satan’s Sons MC) (Dirty Daring Devils Book 1)

  Wheeler Blake is here to ruin me.

  All Wheeler Blake can focus on is the curves of the dancer on stage.

  But there’s a hidden war boiling over at the Satan’s Sons MC.

  Can Wheeler save his MC from annihilation…

  And keep his pregnant woman from falling into enemy hands?

  EMBER

  As a fire dancer, I know what it’s like to get too close to the flames.

  But the bad boy biker is about to burn me in a whole new way.

  He’s a heartbreaker in the flesh.

  No good for me – or for any woman.

  But he’s got that thing I just can’t resist.

  That spark.

  That allure.

  And he’s decided that I’m coming with him.

  Whether I like it or not.

  WHEELER

  Sometimes, no words are needed.

  Ember knew from the second our eyes met that this evening would be different than anything she’d ever experienced.

  And I was about to prove her right.

  Women always want more of me.

  But my whole life, it’s always been one rule: onto the next.

  Ember is different, though.

  She makes me want to stay.

  To go back for more.

  So when I threw her on the back of my bike and rode off into the night, I knew that this could end only one way:

  Tragedy.

  Because for the first time in a long time, I have something I care about.

  No more reckless rogue.

  No more win at all costs.

  I have to stay alive so I can keep Ember safe.

  Because she’s carrying my baby.

  Stolen Chopper: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Devil’s Wings MC) (Rebel Biker Nomads Book 3)

  I rode him like I stole him.

  He swears he’s going to break me and spill the secrets I’ve been hiding.

  Th
e only way to save myself is to give my body up to his touch.

  But when a war erupts around us, there’s only one safe place left:

  Held in the biker’s arms.

  FARRAH

  I thought she was my best friend, but she tricked me.

  Now, I’m trapped in a bikers’ clubhouse.

  Drugs and slaves surround me.

  Blood and rage overwhelm me.

  And the outlaw Connor Ryan is doing his best to destroy me.