So Hot MC Boxset

by Blair Grey

  I found that sad. “Do you sleep in the bedroom you shared with your wife?”

  “Nope. I sleep on the couch. I don’t even go into that room. My clothes are in the closet in the guest room.” He pushed my glass of milk toward me. “Drink that up. It’s good for you.”

  “K.” I’d only thought of Carl as super tough, like a super man. But he’d been hurt too. The murder of his wife was only a couple of years old. He wasn’t over her, or her death. “Do you spend a lot of time over here now, since your daughter’s not living here anymore?”

  “Not really.” He looked around. “The pictures kind of bother me. It’s not that I don’t like thinking about Lisa, but I don’t like seeing her face except in my mind. I thought that knowing the men who ended her life were dead would make me feel better somehow. You know, help me get rid of the anger I’ve got built up inside of me over her murder. But it hasn’t all gone away yet. Maybe it will never go completely away.”

  I had to wonder if I was a reminder of the men who had killed her. There wasn’t any doubt in my mind that the men in my father’s MC who had been found dead at a roadside park had been killed by someone. The cops had ruled it a mass drug overdose though. They had lots of heroine in their systems to prove that. But we all knew that someone had killed them. My bets were on Carl being the one who’d done it.

  Eating the rest of the eggs, I picked up my plate then went to wash it. “I think with time you will get better, Carl.” It was kind of nice to see him as a human with human problems. As I went back into the dining area, I couldn’t help myself and stood behind him, rubbing his shoulders. “Tight.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been pretty stressed out lately.” He ran his hand over mine. “That feels nice, Britt.”

  “I can give you a full body massage if you’d like. I know I’ve been the one to cause you all this stress.” I owed the guy.

  He shook his head. “Not tonight. I’ve got some other things to tend to in a bit. And I don’t want you to think of yourself as the one who’s caused me stress. I kidnapped you, remember?”

  In a way, it was hard to think of myself as kidnapped when I was free to walk around, and everyone treated me so well. “Except for my father’s tremendous disapproval of me getting myself kidnapped, it hasn’t been bad at all. If I had to be taken by anyone, I’m glad it was you and your men.”

  “Sure you were.” He laughed lightly as he ran his hand back and forth on mine. “You know what, I hate fighting with you. It makes me feel horrible. And I would love to stop doing it.”

  “Me too.” I hated fighting with him and how it made me feel too. “Let’s cut that shit out, okay?”

  “I’m with ya, honey.” His hand moved up my arm, then he pulled me around to sit on his lap. His lips grazed my cheek. “I didn’t mean what I said to you about it just being sex with you. I think I was just trying to hurt you. Maybe what we have is something I’m afraid of. Maybe I’ve been blaming you and your issues for why this will never work. But I’ve got issues too.”

  I didn’t want him to feel bad. Plus, I was thrilled that he’d told me the truth. “Who doesn’t have some issues, babe? Sure, mine are worse than yours, but everyone has some issues. Everyone has some demons in their closets.”

  His lips moved along my neck, igniting a fire between my legs. Then his hand moved along my inner thigh and I melted for him. “Ours are a little scarier than most. But I think we can learn how to stop lashing out at each other if we really try.”

  My heart leapt as I had the feeling that he wanted to see where things could go with us. “I’m willing to try if you are.”

  “Yeah, I’m willing to try too. No one has had the power to hurt me. Not since I lost my wife. Well, my daughter does, but as far as anything romance-wise, no one has ever had the power to hurt me or make me care. You’ve got that power, Britt. And what I need to know is if I have that power over you?”

  “So, you wanted to see if you could actually hurt me?” I smiled as I asked the question. It was becoming more and more obvious to me that we both had things we needed to work on.

  “Maybe. Hell, I don’t know. I wish I did know. And I wish I hadn’t said that and put doubt in your mind. I meant all those things I whispered to you that night. And I still mean them. I know you pushed me away. But I know that I should’ve stopped you.” He cupped my chin in his big hand. “I am the man in this thing.”

  “You are the man. And you do have the power to hurt me if you want to know the truth,” I admitted. “I’m the one who needs the most work. I need a fair and steady hand, babe. You got one?”

  “Most of the time, I do.” His hand ran through my hair. “Most of the time, I can be what you need me to be.”

  “And I think I can be that for you too. See, it hurts my heart to think of your life at home. I think I could try to help you with that. You know, give the place a woman’s touch.” I thought that sounded a bit presumptuous of me. “If you feel ready for something like that.”

  Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. “You know what I think I need to do with that place, baby?”

  “As if I have a clue,” I said as I laughed.

  “I think I should sell it. One of the riders in my MC has been after me to sell it to him for the last few months. He and his old lady are having a baby and they currently live in an efficiency apartment.” His hand moved over my knee as he looked around his daughter’s house. “I like this place. It was me who found it for Sarah. I put the down payment on it. My name and hers are on this place. I could buy her out.”

  I didn’t know if he was including me in with things or not. But I had never lived in such a nice neighborhood or such a nice home. “Wow. This is a very nice place, Carl. What would the other homeowners think of a biker living amongst them?”

  “Like I give a damn about what other people think, baby.” His hand moved in between my legs. “The question should be, would you feel comfortable here?”

  Looking around, I had to laugh. “Well, truth be told, I’ve never felt real comfortable anywhere. But since I’ve been living out there in the sticks with you and your friends, I’ve never felt more secure and comfortable. What I’m saying is that wherever you are, I feel comfortable there.”

  “Cool.” He leaned in, kissing a line up my neck. His cell rang and he groaned. “I’ve gotta take this. How about you do the dishes while I take this call? We can talk more afterward.”

  “You got it.” I got off his lap and picked up his plate and the glasses, taking them to the kitchen as he walked away.

  Thinking about the place maybe becoming my home, I looked around the kitchen, being nosy and finding everything so much better than anything I’d ever had.

  Once I got done with that, I went to the living room and peeked out the window that overlooked the front lawn. Bright lights lit up the green grass and shrubbery that lined the front of the house. I walked over to the door, finding a security system that looked super expensive.

  A home with a lawn, a two-car garage, and a security system sounded like a mansion to me. I’d come from living in nothing much more than shacks. We’d moved lots of times when the places my father had rented just broke down too much for anyone to live in them any longer.

  A real home would be different. A wonderful different.

  I went up the stairs, finding two bedrooms up there. Both were decorated nicely, and everything was spotless. I had no idea who had kept the house no one lived in clean, but they’d done an awesome job.

  “Britt? Where are you?” Carl called out from downstairs.

  I came out of one of the bedrooms. “Up here, being nosy.” I went down to find him coming out a door from underneath the stairs. “What’s in there?”

  He gestured to the open door. “It’s the den. Come in, take a look.” He put his arm around me as he led me into the room.

  It was bigger than the living room and there was a pool table and bar back there too. “Nice.”

  “Yeah, I had a hand in furnishing thi
s room. I wanted it to be a bit like the home Sarah had left when she went away to college in Rhode Island. These things had been in our home. In my den. I guess I wanted her to feel she still had a little bit of her home left since I’d trashed parts of it.”

  “At least if you decide you want to take this place over, it already has a space you love.” I turned to face him, wrapping my arms around him. “I like this home.”

  He looked a little worried, his brow furrowed. “Well, let’s see what you say after I tell you what I have to say.”

  Feeling apprehensive, I asked, “What is it that you have to say, Carl?”

  “My council voted.” His arms tightened around me. “And I don’t want you to think that I led them to vote in any certain way about this. But they voted no on taking out your father at this time. They feel there isn’t enough to make it a necessary action for our MC right now. It’s nothing personal, so I don’t want you to take it that way. Please, don’t let this upset you. I will always make sure you’re safe. And if your safety is affected by him, then I will deal with that when the time comes.”

  What more could I ask for anyway? Nodding, I rested my head against his chest. “Thank you. I understand.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Carl

  The sound of my cell vibrating on the nightstand next to me woke me up. Britt lay still, nestled in my arms. The soft sound didn’t stir her at all. Picking up the phone, I got out of bed as I saw Johnny’s name on the screen. Heading into the bathroom, I swiped the screen to answer the call. The first thing I noticed was the sounds of sirens in the background. “Johnny, you okay?”

  “I’m fine. The vacation house isn’t though.” He coughed. “There’s smoke so thick that it’s making it hard for me to breathe. We thought Brittany was inside and I broke the window of the bedroom she’d been in to get to her. But no one was in the house, thank God. The neighbor is the one who called me to let me know about things. He said the last thing he heard before he smelled smoke was the sound of a Harley. Do you know where Brittany is?”

  “I took her from there about ten last night. Thank the good lord that I did too. Shit.” It had to be someone from the Irish Reapers. “How about the camera in the front of the house? Is it viable?”

  “Nope. Nothing is. Whoever torched this place made sure every inch of it burnt to the ground. The fire marshal said a ton of accelerant was used all the way around the house and the garage,” Johnny told me. “My guess is that they thought her car was still inside of it. I just glad that you have her and not her father and his mother-fucking MC.”

  “You and me both, Johnny.” We’d had the car taken to our connections in the drug smuggling business and gave it to them to get it out of the country. Seemed the Irish Reapers weren’t aware of that though. “Sounds like they wanted to make sure there wasn’t a thing left of Brittany’s existence at all.”

  “I agree.” He coughed again. “I was just glad no one was in the house. The smoke was so thick that anyone would’ve died from smoke inhalation before we could get inside to save them.”

  “And that was precisely their plan.” I hated Britt’s father with a passion now. “He’s gone too far.”

  “Who has?” came Britt’s voice from behind me.

  “I’ll talk to you later, Johnny. And don’t say a word to anyone about Britt being alive and with me. If anyone asks, just say that you’ve got no idea if she was in the house or not and that the fire marshal will be the one to determine that later.” I ended the call then turned to face her to let her know who had gone too far. “Your father.”

  Rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands, she wiped the sleep away from them. “What did he do?”

  “The house we were staying in has burnt to the ground. That and the garage. Seems I got you out of there in the nick of time. And my bets are on your father thinking you’re dead.” I pulled her into my arms, rocking with her as I kissed the top of her head.

  Her arms went around me as she sighed. “I bet he does think that. And I think I’ve got to tell you something that I haven’t yet.”

  Picking her up, I carried her back to the bed we’d slept in and placed her on it. “Okay, tell me what you haven’t told me yet.”

  “My father has this incredibly stupid idea that he can rid Baltimore of your MC.” She looked at the bed, playing with the hem of the blanket that she’d pulled to cover her naked body.

  I walked over to pull my jeans back on as I wasn’t going to go back to bed anytime soon. “And did he ever talk about how he planned on achieving this goal?” I hadn’t checked the time and looked at the digital clock on the dresser. Three in the morning is what I found.

  “Not that I heard. I mean, it was just this thing he talked about now and then about getting the Iron Cobras the hell out of Baltimore so he could take over this town.” She looked at me with sad eyes. “He’s delusional is what I thought. He would talk about the Irish Reapers getting as big and well-respected as Hell’s Angels or the Bandidos. But he had this idea that the Iron Cobras would have to be destroyed for that to happen.”

  “He’s not entirely wrong. There’s not one of us who would like them getting that big. But it’s never been a real worry as those men tend to kill each other just about as much as they kill people outside of their MC.” I went back to the bed, taking a seat next to her, then pulling her close to me, hugging her. “Baby, I know this must be a shock to you that he would do this to you.”

  “Not really.” She held onto me tightly. “But as far as death goes, that would’ve been far easier than the things I’d been thinking he would do to me. Death by asphyxiation from smoke inhalation isn’t the worst way to go.”

  My cell dinged which meant someone had sent me a text message. “Now, who could this be at this time of night?”

  “Seems you’re popular tonight,” Britt said as she laughed.

  I found it a bit upsetting that she was taking the fact her father thought she’d been killed rather well. “Honey, it’s okay to be upset about this. Don’t push those feelings down.” I found the message had come from Axel, my MC brother who ran the Executive Viper. “It’s from my son-in-law who runs that strip club I told you about. And it seems the FBI is currently going through the place with a fine-tooth comb. He says not to worry, there’s nothing illegal going on there.” I put the phone down to gather Britt in my arms again. “Your father seems to be on a rampage.”

  “He thinks I’m dead and that you no longer have any leverage.” She sighed and her breath moved in a warm wave across my bare chest. “How quick he is to move on, huh?”

  It became clear that Arthur Kelly’s body housed no soul and not a single moral rested within it either. “I don’t want you to worry about a thing. I will protect you, Britt. I’ll never stop.”

  “It’s nice of you to say that, Carl. But I’m afraid for you and the men in your club right now. You’ve got to let your MC brothers know what my father’s plan is. You guys have to make a plan to save yourselves right now. I’m okay since he thinks I’m dead. As long as I stay put and no Reaper knows that I’m alive, I’ll be fine. But you guys are on his chopping block now.” She gripped my arms as she pulled her head off my chest. “I really, really don’t want to lose you, babe.”

  I sort of hated the fact that she didn’t think I was capable of putting her father in his place. “Honey, I’ve got this. Your father has no idea of the buttons he’s pushed in me now. Not only am I disgusted with him as a father but I’m furious at him for hurting you this way.” Arthur Kelly was done getting away with his crimes. “You won’t ever have to worry about that man again. This will take a short amount of time and some extensive planning, but his ass is now mine.”

  “Carl, don’t go up against him alone. He’s never alone. Even when you don’t see anyone else around, there’s always someone waiting in the wings with a weapon in his hand. Promise me that you won’t go after him alone.” Her eyes went wide and her body shook. “Promise me.”

 
She truly cared about me. I’d never fully believed it until I saw her looking at me with fear in her dark eyes. “I promise you that I won’t take him on alone.” A smile filled my face. “You do care about me, don’t you?”

  She smacked me in the chest. “Yes, I care about you, goof!” Leaning in, she kissed the place on my chest that she’d hit. “And I want you around for a very long time too. Don’t let your anger with my father make you do anything stupid. Keep your wits about you. And remember what I’ve said before. You know he’s going to take the cheap shot. Be more than ready for that. Make your plan a solid one. Don’t take any chances that you don’t have to take.”

  “I’m good, baby. You can count on me.” I kissed her on the cheek. “Not only do I have my daughter and soon to be born grandkid, but I’ve got you to live for now. I ain’t ready to check-out anytime soon. Your father is cocky. I’m not. Your father is arrogant. I am not. Your father is mad with power and maybe just plain insane. I am not.”

  “You are right.” She grinned. “You know, this whole being fake-dead thing is kind of nice. I’ve never felt safer in my entire life. That’s weird, huh?”

  “Not really, when you consider how unsafe your entire life has been thus far.” I wondered how she’d made it this long without losing her mind. “Life is going to be much different for you now. You won’t have to be waiting to see what he’ll do. You won’t be looking over your shoulder, worrying about what’s coming next. It’s over, baby.”

  She laughed. “Not yet, it’s not. It’s over for a little while. Arthur will find out that I’m not dead. When the news reports the fire and that there were no casualties, he’ll know that I’m still alive.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. “Shit. We don’t have the time I thought we did. They’ll report that by the evening news.”

  My cell rang and I saw that it was Axel. “I’d better see what’s happening now.” I swiped the screen. “Hey, Axel. I read your text. What’s up now?”