So Hot MC Boxset

by Blair Grey

  They’d been given orders to disband and had ignored that order. They thought that they could torment Ryder, me, the whole of my MC. And so far, they had done just that.

  How much more will I take from them? How many more days and nights will I let them go on?

  I’d made certain vows to myself about how I wanted to treat other human beings. Treating them the way I would want to be treated. Treating them with respect until they showed me they were disrespectful was also one of my vows.

  The Angry Hogs had shown me that they were nothing but disrespectable. And things like them didn’t deserve to get to ride the same roads the Iron Cobras did. Things like them didn’t deserve to breathe the same air we breathed.

  Baltimore was too small for both our MCs. Baltimore didn’t need them to be in it. The motley crew had stained the reputation of the city they thought they could call home territory.

  “Lucas, I’m packed and ready to load up my car.” Walking into my room, she looked at the empty suitcase that lay unopened on my bed. “Lucas? You haven’t packed?”

  Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I didn’t want her to know what I’d been thinking about while not doing what I was supposed to be doing. “I think this whole breaking into my home thing has gotten to me.”

  Moving into my room, she began packing my bag. “Well, if you’ll hurry up, then I can help you forget all about this. The prospects will be here soon. They’ll protect your property from getting any more vandalism done to it. And they will start working on it to get it back to the place you had before those idiots targeted you. But the most important thing is that when we get to my place, I can make you forget about everything but me.”

  She could do that.

  I had a limited time left with her. I needed to stop thinking about things – other than her. “You’re right.” The sounds of Harley’s pulling into my drive made me smile as the sound always did. “And they are here now, so we can leave and leave this little nightmare behind. When I do come back, my home will have been restored to its former condition.”

  And I would come back to a home that Hailey wouldn’t be a part of any longer.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Hailey

  Coming back to my own home was a thing I hadn’t thought much about before Lucas’ home was vandalized. But once I had thought about it, I found this odd happiness with the idea of going back home.

  I just need some normal.

  Sleeping in my bed, cooking in my kitchen, sitting on my sofa, watching my television – it all sounded so comforting to me. My hopes were high that Lucas would like staying with me there too. But part of me knew the man might feel out of his element.

  Lucas Hoss had lived the life of a bachelor who loved his home and the peace it brought to his sometimes-dangerous life. Staying somewhere other than at the sanctuary he’d made for himself wouldn’t be easy for him. But I knew that I could make him feel much more at home than anyone else could.

  As I pulled into my drive, I looked into my rearview mirror, finding Lucas coming in right behind me. A sudden chill ran through me. I am bringing another man into the home my husband and I have shared.

  Shaking the negative thought off, I got out of the car. “I think I’ve got some hot chocolate in the pantry. That should chill us out.”

  “Maybe – if you put some vodka in mine – it might.” The frown he wore didn’t look right on his handsome, and usually smiling face.

  “I can see what I can dig up for you, leather.” Opening my trunk, I pulled out a couple of my bags, then headed toward the front door.

  “Wait!” He moved passed me, going to the door first. “Let me check things out before you open the door.” Going from window to window, he peered into the dark home. “I don’t see any signs of mischief.” His hand held out to me, he seemed slightly nervous. “Keys, honeysuckle.”

  Handing him my house key, I waited by my car as he went to the door. “Be careful, Lucas. We’ve had enough excitement for one night.”

  “Agreed.” Slowly he put the key into the lock and turned it. The door opened, then he reached in and flipped on the porch light and the interior light. “Looks good in here. Come on. Let’s get you inside. I don’t like you being out here.”

  Taking my luggage with me, I hurried to get inside. His nervous energy had begun to rub off on me. “I’ll get the rest of my things in the morning. This will get me through the night.”

  We both used our key fobs to lock our cars remotely, then went inside where he locked the door behind us before turning off the porchlight. “The whole ride over here I tried to wrap my head around why anyone would think they could break into my home and wreak havoc. I mean, I am a member of a very powerful organization. We could literally squash all twelve of them in less time than it takes to screw in a light bulb.”

  Putting down my bags, I went to the kitchen to find the vodka for Lucas as he looked like he absolutely needed it. “Ice?”

  He came in behind me. “Straight.”

  Filling a small glass, I handed it to him. “You’re right, who would think they could ever get away with what they have?”

  After taking a big drink, he shook his head. “They haven’t gotten away with shit.” Another swig flowed over his lips. “Putting you in their crosshairs was bad. Putting me in them means death.”

  Chills ran down my back as an odd feeling came over me. So, I’m not worth killing these morons over?

  I understood that Lucas was an Iron Cobra and I was merely the wife of one. But damn, I hadn’t thought hearing him say how much more important he was than I was would offend me so much. “I see.” Pulling another short glass out of the cabinet, I filled it half-way.

  Seeming oblivious to how his words had affected me, he took a seat at the kitchen table, his eyes glassy. “Even the men in the Irish Reapers wouldn’t dare to trespass against me. I know I seem like a rather mild-mannered man – even a spiritual man – but I am also one of the most dangerous men in Baltimore. Most men belonging to MCs in Maryland know of my rep and their automatic respect is given without hesitation.”

  Looking at the man who sat at my little round dining table, clutching the glass of vodka, I almost didn’t recognize him. “Lucas?” Hesitantly, I took the seat across from him. “What kinds of things have you done to make yourself have such a reputation that automatically means that you deserve respect?”

  Another drink, then he placed the empty glass on the table. “The kinds of things that I can’t tell you about, honeysuckle. I wasn’t always so mature. I wasn’t always so easy going. I wasn’t always in touch with the better side of myself.”

  I’d read a bit about being the child of a narcissistic parent and what came from being raised in such an environment. Self-loathing was the first thing that came to my mind. “I don’t think you should think that way about yourself, Lucas. You’re a good man. You have always been a good man.”

  The slightest huff came out of his mouth before he got up to refill his glass. The clank of the bottle as it hit the rim on the glass made me shiver for some reason. “I have been a pretty good man for the last five years. Prior to that, I was on a mission to destroy myself. Quite a few men were destroyed on the way to that misguided mission.”

  “What changed your path?” I watched as he came back to sit down, his shoulders slumped a bit and it seemed like he’d gone a million miles away.

  “Well, let’s just say that one of the men who met his end at my hands had a woman who had the power to look right through my soul.” His eyes glued to his full glass - he tapped the table in front of it. “Dark brown eyes looked into mine as she held her dying man in her arms. What she said to me will be etched in my mind forever.”

  “It must’ve been pretty damn powerful to have put you on the road that eventually led you to where you are now.” I had no idea what anyone could say to change a person so completely.

  Nodding, he whispered, “She said, I see you in there - scared little boy, searching for his mother
’s love.” Slipping his hand around the glass, he just held it. “How’d she know? That’s what I asked myself over and over again. How did that woman know about what hid within me? She saw it so clearly.”

  “I’m sure it showed more than you knew it did was all.” My heart ached for the boy inside of the man. Putting my hand over his, I felt as if I needed to try to do something to help him out of his funky reverie. “So, you stopped your journey to self-destruction at that time?”

  “Right at the very instant that she said those words to me. I stopped. Something inside of me clicked. I knew then that I was trying to fill a void and that void couldn’t be filled with the deaths of others. No matter what they’d done wrong, I was done being policeman, judge, jury, and punisher.” Picking up the glass, he tossed back the entirety of the alcohol.

  I knew instinctively that he was done drinking for the night. Getting up, I came up behind him, rubbing his shoulders. “And now you are who you are. So, let the past be the past and deal with this as the man you are now.”

  “The man I am now also houses the man I used to be.” Running his hand up my arm, he took my hand, his thumb grazing the top of it. “These animals brought mine out.”

  I hated to think of Lucas as an animal. “Come on. Let’s stop talking about this and go to bed.”

  Pulling my hand to his lips, he murmured, “Are you going to try to love me out of doing something you think is dangerous?”

  Maybe I was going to use sex to try to bring the human back to the surface and drown the animal who had come out to show its ugly head. “Would that be so bad?” I pulled at him, making him get up. “Come on. It’s late. We really should climb into bed. Whether we do anything more than cuddle or not, we should put an end to this insane night.”

  Moving in behind me, his hands rested on my hips as he walked so close to me that I felt the heat coming off him. “We should put an end to this night.”

  The alcohol had him on the clumsy side and he missed a step, then we bumped against the wall, my back to it. His eyes glistened as he looked at me.

  Slipping my arms around his neck, I sensed his need for me. Slowly, his hands moved underneath my shirt, pulling it off over my head. He tossed it over his shoulder, then leaned in to kiss my shoulder while unhooking the back of my bra.

  As it too flew over his shoulder, I felt a smile pull at my lips. Lifting his shirt off, I threw it to join my clothes on the living room floor as he cupped my neck with his strong hand then his mouth fell on mine as my feet followed his as he backed up.

  Lifting me, he took me in his arms, bridal style as he carried me to my bed. With only two doors off the living room of the one-bedroom home, he didn’t have a hard time guessing which one was the bedroom.

  Pressing me between him and the door, I turned the doorknob. And at that moment something switched on inside of me. The smells of our bedroom, the sound of the ceiling fan coming on as my hand ran along the wall, hitting the light switch - it all combined to remind me of one thing.

  Ryder!

  Lucas put my feet on the floor, our lips parting. “Before we get too far into this, I’ve gotta hit the head to get rid of some of this vodka.”

  “Yeah.” I pointed at the other door. “Over there. We only have the one bathroom.”

  “Back in five.”

  Being alone, I couldn’t help but look at the bed that only Ryder and I had ever shared. I leaned my shoulder on the doorframe, going back to the last night we got to spend together.

  My husband’s calloused hands had run over my bare skin. His hot lips had pressed against my neck. “Come on, babe. What do I have to do to get you in the mood?”

  I’d been cranky that night. He’d come in late, missing dinner and I’d made one of his favorites too – pot roast with brown gravy. Whiskey on his breath, grease underneath his fingernails from working at the motorcycle shop, and none of my dinner in his belly as he’d told me he wasn’t hungry, he had no clue how mad he’d made me.

  But as I lay rigid in our bed, my husband had begun to realize that he’d upset me as I had stayed tight-lipped. Soft kisses he’d trailed between my breasts. “I get it. I should’ve come home at dinnertime. What can I do to make it up to you? And you can ask me for anything. And I do mean anything.”

  If I would’ve known what would happen, I might have let it all go. I might have just pushed away all the anger that had begun to well up inside of me when the seven o’clock hour had come and gone without a word from my husband. I might have just let myself melt with each soft kiss he gave my body.

  I didn’t do that though. Instead, I said nothing while I lay there, tense and trying not to cry. I hadn’t wanted him to see me crying, the way I had for a good half-hour before he’d finally come home after midnight.

  “Aw, babe, come on now. I’m sorry,” he’d moaned with a voice gruff from smoking, drinking, and staying out too late. “Time got away from me is all. The boys and I were into a pool tournament. If you had been there, you wouldn’t have wanted to leave either.”

  And then I had found the words that had been stuck in my craw, “You didn’t invite me, Ryder. You didn’t call and ask me to come down there to join you. It’s been forever since you and I have gone out. I sit here all day and now all night alone. And I am sick to death of it. You come in late, wanting me to fall into your drunken arms like I owe it to you for some reason. Like you putting a roof over my head and money in our bank account should be enough somehow. Well, it’s not and you should know that I am not happy.”

  He’d sat up in our bed, running his hands through his hair as he looked up at the ceiling. “Okay. I get it. I really do. So, what do you say to letting me take you out for dinner tomorrow night? We can start over. I know I haven’t been here for you. It’s time to make a change. You’re right. And you know what else?”

  It had been hard to let myself believe he was actually going to change and would start putting me first. “What else, Ryder?”

  His hands had moved over my shoulders. “I want us to start trying for a baby. We’ve been married for a year now. It’s time for us to start our family. So, what do you say? Tomorrow, dinner? And later, some baby-making?”

  Looking at our bed that hadn’t seen another night for us after that one, I had to wonder that if he hadn’t been framed with drugs and taken to jail after our dinner out if we would’ve had a baby.

  A hand on my shoulder jolted me out of my memories. “You look a million miles away. Is this something you don’t want to do, Hailey? You can be honest with me. I can take the couch if sleeping in the bed you shared with Ryder is too much for you.”

  Although there were memories, I didn’t want to sleep alone. I’d slept alone far too much in that bed when my husband had stayed out until all hours of the night. “No, leather. I don’t want to sleep alone. Stay with me, please.”

  At least I won’t be falling asleep alone as long as Lucas is with me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Lucas

  Written all over her beautiful face was the fact that she’d seen her husband in the bedroom they’d shared before he’d gotten set up. Imagination can be a strong thing and it was obvious hers had been playing tricks on her. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost, baby. It’s okay, you know. You’re a woman with morals. Of course, you’re having thoughts about your husband.”

  Biting her lower lip, she leaned against the doorframe. “I lied.”

  “What?” I’d had a bit to drink and my mind had been a mess, but I couldn’t imagine what Hailey had lied about.

  “I lied.” Taking a small step, she walked slowly toward the bed, then ran her hand over the pale blue bedspread. “I’ve been acting and talking as if Ryder and I were still in the honeymoon stage of our marriage when he was sent away.”

  I took the place she’d left, leaning on the doorframe as I watched her meticulously smooth the blankets as if they needed to be perfect. “Were you guys having problems?”

  Nodding, she took a seat on th
e bed. “So many of them, leather. He’d begun neglecting our relationship. He hung out at the club each night. It seemed that Ryder preferred the company of his MC brothers and the women who hung out with you all more than spending time with me.”

  Recalling how often I’d seen him staying late at the bar at our headquarters, I knew she wasn’t exaggerating. “Why didn’t you just talk to him early on and let him know that his staying out bothered you?”

  With her eyes cast to the floor, she mumbled, “Like he would listen.”

  Going to sit beside her, I put my arm around her shoulders. “Did you talk to him about it?”

  “Once. When I was at the end of my rope.” Looking up at me with unshed tears shimmering in her eyes, she went on, “I didn’t want to seem uncool. I guessed that all of you guys stayed out late and that it was a thing I would get used to. Only I never got used to eating dinner alone and spending most evenings alone - going to bed alone.”

  “You should’ve said something to him, honeysuckle. He was just a man. A man who knew nothing other than the life of a man in an MC with lots going on within it.” As the Iron Cobra’s chaplain, I felt as if I’d dropped the ball where Ryder and his new bride were concerned. “I should’ve asked him why he left you home, instead of bringing you around. I should’ve asked him why he was staying out late when he had a new bride at home to see to.”

  “I must’ve bored him to tears.” Her lower lip quivered, letting me know she was on the verge of a breakdown.

  Taking her by the shoulders, I moved her to sit on my lap. Stroking her hair, I whispered, “You could never bore anyone, honeysuckle. Ryder was just a dumb kid is all. What’s more, is that I think he wasn’t sure what to do with you. You are so much better than any girl he had ever dated. He must’ve been confused about what to do.” Taking her by the chin, I wanted to be sure she never let that happen to her again. “And I want you to promise me that if he gets into that type of rut or does anything to make you feel unwanted or unloved by him, that you will talk to me about it. I’ll talk to him and straighten things out.”