by Jayne Blue
As Polk, Cruz, and Nero led the rest of the crew in cleaning up the fire mess my cell buzzed. Bret.
Shit, I hoped Ridge was okay? I’d forgotten in the swirl of fire and Jules that Ridge getting shot started this fucked up night.
“How’s the shop?” Bret asked.
“You first, how’s Ridge?”
“Tough as we thought. The bullet went right through. He also gave the cops a description. There’s a few Devil’s Hawks that match it.”
“Good. Very good.”
“So, the shop?”
“Salvageable.”
“Ugh. Well, that’s something.”
“They keeping Ridge?” I asked.
“No, he won’t let them. We’re headed back. The cops are done with him, and the doctors can’t keep him down.”
“Good.”
“Ryder, you know you owe her?” Bret said.
“What?”
“Jules, she warned me about someone coming after you. And, sounds like from what Nero tells me she saved the shop.”
“Yeah, well she ran out of here like a bat out of hell. I didn’t get one second to even ask her why.”
“I think that’s probably fucking obvious. But if her Daddy finds out. She’s dead.”
“I’m headed to her place now. Give Ridge a kiss for me. You’ll have better luck than me in that department.”
“Whatever.”
Bret was right. And I could hear Jules saying, “I can’t be seen.”
I kept it in mind and had one of the probies drop me off at her place. There’d be no evidence of my bike at her apartment.
It was still a few hours before dawn when I headed up to see why Jules had risked her life for mine.
Chapter Eighteen
Jules
The charity event with The Judge was boring as hell. And all I could think of was how to get away and warn Ryder. Thankfully, The Judge always left early and always got to bed early. And until I married him he always went to his own place and own bed.
The second he dropped me off my mind raced. How would I get to Ryder? Where would he be? How would Devil’s Hawks get to him?
The repair shop was the only place I could think to look for Ryder. I didn’t change clothes, I didn’t overthink it, I just drove to the shop.
I was relieved to find Bret, we were friends once, but terror hit me when she said that Ryder wasn’t there.
“I’ll find him. Don’t worry. Thank you for the heads up. But why?” I didn’t have an answer.
“I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Ryder, or you, or anyone.” I couldn’t tell her something that I hadn’t even told him. That I was barely able to admit in my head for fear of crying on the floor again like I had earlier.
“Look, you parked around back. That was a good thing. Maybe wait a minute to leave? No one should see you here or anywhere near me.” Bret was smart. She understood the danger I was in being here. She understood Devil’s Hawks. I didn’t think Ryder really did. He was sure the Great Wolves patch protected him. Maybe in Grand City. But in Southwood, it was Devil’s Hawks and Daddy. They made the rules, and they broke them at his whim.
I watched Bret drive off and as she rounded the corner I saw headlights came from the other direction.
Shit. I dove to the floor in time. But just in time. Bullets ripped through the window and glass shattered everywhere. I felt tiny slices on my skin as it rained down on me.
I stayed quiet and still under the counter. And then I heard the engines around back. Then another crash. The flames started immediately.
I could have run. I could have let the shop go up. Maybe that would get Ryder far away from here, the total failure of his auto body shop idea. But then I remembered what Ryder told me. Way back in the summer, about his dreams, about his plans. This was a part of that.
So I battled through the smoke and heat, and I found the water. I did my best to save what he was trying to build. He tried to save me once. I owed him that much back.
I wanted to tell him all that when he showed up. I wanted to collapse in his arms. But seeing all the Great Wolves made everything all too clear. If Daddy found out, I’d thwarted all his plans tonight. He’d kill me, I was sure. Or worse. I didn’t want to think about what would be worse. I drove in circles. Thinking. Worrying. And trying to figure out what to do next.
It was pitch dark when I parked my car and went up to my loft. I hoped the dark meant no eyes were following me. I prayed that there weren’t snitches waiting to tell Daddy that I was the one who’d warned the Great Wolves.
When the elevator opened to my apartment I expected it to be Daddy, waiting. I was paranoid as it was but now? I was sure someone had seen me with the Wolves.
I hadn’t had time to change out of my, destroyed gown, would he bury me in it? Would he shoot me here in my apartment?
I was terrified. And my fear was realized. There was a man in patched covered leather standing in the center of my loft.
But it was Ryder. Gorgeous, strong, pissed off, confused, everything I wanted, nothing I could have, Ryder.
I froze like a statue, as still as I’d been when the glass shattered over me at the shop.
Ryder walked toward me. One long stride, then another, and he was standing in front of me.
“Jules,” he said. His voice was raspy. Both of us still smelled like smoke.
I didn’t know what to say to him. I wanted to say I was sorry about everything. I wanted to explain.
But I didn’t have to. Ryder pulled me to his chest. It was fast. Violent almost. But it was what I needed. What I wanted from the moment I left him. From the moment I’d lied to him.
“I need you,” he said. I nodded. I didn’t have the right words. I didn’t have any words.
Ryder leaned down and smashed his mouth on mine. I gasped and let him overcome me with his lips, his tongue. He pulled me into his arms and lifted me off the ground. I wound my hands around his neck.
Our bodies were pressed together. I felt how hard he was. His urgency matched my own.
“I need you naked. I need to see you. Touch you everywhere.” Ryder had the words that I couldn’t find.
“Please,” was all I could say.
Ryder kissed my neck, my collar bone, he ran his hands through my hair. It was as if neither of us knew what to touch first or what we wanted to touch the most. I slid my hands around his hips and felt the flesh of his ass. God, I wanted him. I had only the memory of his gorgeous body all these months. It fueled my dreams and my frustrations, and it wasn’t enough. Only Ryder, in the flesh, was enough.
Ryder propelled us forward, and before I knew it, I was on my bed. Ryder on top of me. He paused for a moment and looked at me.
“You’re fucking gorgeous. Better than I remembered,” he said.
I touched his face, his jaw, his now long hair. He kissed my fingertips and then my palm. And for a moment it was tentative. Like it was our first time. Like we were afraid to spoil the memory of how beautiful it was last summer. Our need to be together hung in the air between us like a physical thing. I certainly should have stopped it then. But I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. Ryder broke the tension with his fingertips.
Ryder slid down the straps of my gown, he pulled at the fabric until my breasts were free, and he kept going, my dress slid further, over my hips, and down past my thighs. And then I wriggled free. His clothes also disappeared in a swirl of our fingers and hands. I wanted to feel his skin on mine. Our bodies touched from lips to toes. My legs wrapped around him. I wanted to keep him there. Right there, with me. Forever.
My thong shredded like it was made of tissue. Ryder leaned down and put his rough stubbled cheek on my nipple, one then the other, and it was so different than what I’d endured with The Judge. The sensations I felt with Ryder, the heat, the ache, was almost too much to bear.
Ryder was hard. He was taking from me what he needed, what he wanted. And I wanted just as much.
I was open, exposed, needy, and ready for h
im. Ryder drove into me. I was on fire with it. Insane from the first pulse. I’d been teased and prodded by Richard for so long, like a wind-up toy. But all this time I’d been dreaming of Ryder. I had imagined this moment for so long I couldn’t control it anymore. Each touch from Ryder energized every cell in my body. My flesh and my brain were overwhelmed at how much I missed this. How much I’d missed Ryder.
I could see his control slipping. His hands gripped my hip on one side and around to my ass. He molded my body to his. I could feel the intensity burn hotter and knew we were both on the edge. I let go of the million things holding me down and let myself tumble over the edge with his hips, his hands, his heat inside me.
I couldn’t go without him again. I couldn’t. That was the thought that seared a hole in my heart. The idea that filled me with dread. How could I live without this in my life?
But I needed him to leave. To hide. To run away just like I had run. To save us both this could only happen one time. This moment of ecstasy I’d craved, given in to, wanted more than anything, could wind up deadly for both of us.
Chapter Nineteen
Ryder
“What’s this?” I felt a sharp edge in her hair. Jules was lying in my arms. She always fit perfectly there. I had a hard time believing that she was real. That I was here. I wanted to drink her in, shield her, fuck her again. She was all I could see.
She was still soot-stained from the fire, and I should have let her go. Shower. Whatever else. But I held her there with me.
And I had so many questions that needed to be answered as I stroked her hair. That’s when the little bit of something had cut my finger. It actually pricked it. She lifted her mouth to the tiny drop of blood on my finger and sucked. The blood was gone but the glass in her hair, Jesus.
“You have glass in your hair, you need to tell me exactly what happened tonight.” I leaned up and started really inspecting her blonde locks. I wanted her to grow them again. Like they were when I met her. This short hair was cute. But it wasn’t her. It wasn’t the wild artist I knew she was inside. It was a look that her geriatric fiancé preferred I imagined.
“You want all the details? I mean I’m okay. It turned out okay.” She said.
“I want the details. What the hell happened?” There was so much about her, what she did last night, the last six months, that I needed to know. I wanted details even if they did draw blood.
“I expect the glass was from when I dove down on the floor of your reception area, and the window shattered on top of me.”
“Jesus. We need to get you to a doctor.” I winced at the thought of what could have happened. Bullets, shards of glass, and or an explosion. She’d risked her life to save the Great Wolves Auto Body Shop. Me.
“You risked your life for me.” The enormity of that hit me. This was not the same woman who told me she’d used me last summer.
“I had to warn you.” We were sitting up now. Face to face. I looked at her hard. Inch by inch. Were there cuts? More glass? First I thought of her as a damsel in distress, then a quirky artist, then a liar, but now I saw how strong she was. The word brave pushed through all those impressions I had of her and sat at the top. But I didn’t want her to be brave alone.
“You need to tell me what’s going on. You need, to be honest with me. But no matter what you say, just know, I’m not leaving you. Ever again.”
“I left you.” She closed her eyes and dropped her head. Then my questions came in rapid fire.
“Why? I thought you were going out west. Violet says your Julery comes from Seattle. What the fuck are you doing here? With The Judge?”
Jules pulled her expensive bed sheet around her body and stood up. I hated for her to leave my arms but I needed the answers. I needed to know what had happened since I put her on that bus.
Jules opened a top drawer of her dresser and handed me a piece of paper. I read it.
“Get on the bus Saturday. Get off at the first stop. We kill Ryder and burn his mother and her fucking store to the ground if you’re not on that bus. Love, Daddy.”
“When did you know? When did you get this?” I was stunned. I had thought she’d made a clean getaway. No one had followed us after our encounter on the side of the road.
But they’d got to her.
“It was in my bag that last day. It scared me so much. And as much as I thought I’d gotten away, we’d gotten away, Daddy’s guys hadn’t lost sight of me. They knew everything we did. Where we were camping. When we went to town. They knew everything.”
I was pissed thinking of those Devil’s Hawks assholes spying on us. Stalking us. I was pissed at myself for thinking I’d outsmarted them. I was arrogant and over confident, and Jules’s Daddy was laughing at me. I dug my nails into my fist.
“You should have told me. I can protect you and my mom. Your Daddy’s not the only one with a crew.” I knew my voice was harsh.
“I came back because I’ve seen what Daddy does. There was also. Uh. Another piece of Ross in the note. Another finger.” Her voice was quiet, she squeezed her eyes shut. She was afraid. And I suddenly realized she also felt guilt. But I was the one who should feel guilty. She had sacrificed. She faced danger for me, for my mom, and I yelled at her for it. Jesus, I was a first class asshole.
“Thank you. You gave up your shot at freedom because of me.” I pulled her forward and kissed her hair, I ran my hands along the smooth skin of her shoulders, and I squeezed her tightly to me.
“It was worth it. I thought you were out of the picture. Then you showed up here. Why here? Uh, anyway, Daddy told Richard, The Judge, what was going to happen tonight and I had to warn you. Otherwise, everything I did, have to do, it would all be for nothing.”
“You saved me and the business.” I kissed her on the forehead then on her pretty cheeks. I couldn’t stay mad at her. Not after knowing why she did what she did. I didn’t agree with it. I knew I could protect her. But I also knew how scared she had to be. Her father and the Devil’s Hawks were no joke. They were brutal in a way that the Great Wolves used to be.
“You have to leave. Soon. Like right now.” Jules’ss eyes were darting around the room.
“Why? I’m here. You’re done with this Judge shit. Look your dad tried and failed to get me last night.”
“They can’t know I warned you. This, between us, I shouldn’t have helped you, but I couldn’t let you get hurt. Daddy will kill you and me. Or he’ll have one of the Hawks do it. Oh God, this is a mess. I have to figure out a way to fix it.”
“Shhh. It’s okay. It’s not a mess. Look, Ridge, that’s who they shot last night. He’s fine, and he gave the cops a positive I.D. of who put the bullet in him. I also know they picked up three of your Daddy’s men. They’re all three going to jail. That will send your Daddy a message.”
The look of fear in her eyes hadn’t changed, but she was at least listening.
“Still. I need you to go.” She was agitated. She’d lived her life under Sonny Maldonado’s mean thumb and the one time she broke free it ended with her being dragged back here.
“Okay. I will. I will go. No one’s going to see me. But I promise you, we’re going to get you out of this. Away from them.”
“Sure. Okay.” She was saying that to get me to leave. That was clear. It didn’t matter if she believed me. I’d given my word to her and would never break it.
“I love you. I don’t want to spend a day without you again. Much less six months. It’s been hell.”
“Same here,” Jules said.
I pulled her in for a hug. I had her back, part of the way at least.
It was harder than leaving her on the bus, leaving her in her apartment, but she wasn’t ready to let me take over. She wasn’t ready to have me fucking tell her old man exactly where he could shove it.
Maybe with some of his best guys cooling in a jail cell for a few months Great Wolves would be able to catch a break and get stronger in Southwood.
“My guy, Ridge, he’s a good witness.
Just you watch. One step at a time.”
“You know I can’t be seen with you.”
“Yet. Soon, though.” I kissed her on the mouth this time. It was so good. So hot. I could easily take her again. Up against the wall, in her bed, back in our tent. All of it.
Soon. Very soon.
I stepped back and looked at her one more time to be sure she was real. And then I snuck out. I kept an eye out to be sure no one watched me leave her place.
I would honor her wishes. I would let her drive the pace of what happened in her town. But not forever. Soon. Very soon everyone would know she was mine, and we’d get her the fuck away from the Devil’s Hawks.
I checked back in at the shop to see how bad off the place was. It was still standing and thanks to Jules the shop wouldn’t have to start at square one.
“I think we replace the wall here, maybe even expand since we need to do work here anyway.” Bret was on the right track. With Nero and Polk behind her, I felt like they were using the situation to their advantage. Fuck you Devil’s Hawks Great Wolves MC Southwood was going to come out stronger.
Cruz and I were headed to the courthouse as the rest of the club pulled together to fix the damages. They were under attack, and they needed to do everything they could to shore up their defenses. To show the Devil’s Hawks that their tactics wouldn’t work. An attack from outside either destroyed you or made you stronger. I bet on stronger when I saw how hard Great Wolves were working to make things right.
The court of Judge Richard Wexler was busy this morning. Drunks, petty crime, and three Devil’s Hawks members would all be there to face the law. The Judge would determine who stayed, who went, and ultimately if there was a good enough case to move forward. I watched the man work. This was the man who had his hands all over Jules. I hated him on sight.
He was old. But his mind was sharp. I watched him look over each case and move through his morning docket. Cruz and I wanted to be there if Ridge needed us and to be sure that the three fuckers were penned up.
