Beyond Reckless

by Autumn Jones Lake

  He holds onto me for another second as if he doesn’t want to leave, then shoulders his way through the door.

  “Sweet baby Jesus, I think my panties burst into flames from watching you two,” Mercy says from behind me.

  Rolling my eyes toward the ceiling, I turn and face her. “I need coffee if you’re going to start firing off questions,” I announce, marching toward the kitchen with her right behind me.

  “Oh, so many, many questions.” She sounds positively giddy. “Starting with, I thought you didn’t date bikers.”

  “We’re not…It’s complicated.”

  She tilts her head and fixes her don’t-bullshit-me stare on me. “Will your uncle be mad?”

  “That’s why it’s complicated.” I use my best “duh” voice. While Mercy and I have known each other since grade school, we drifted apart in college and law school. She has some knowledge about my biker family, but not much. Since her family is full of stuffy politicians, the biker thing has always intrigued her.

  “He’s hot.”

  I busy myself with making coffee. Except, I can’t stop thinking about Marcel. About seeing him later. I’ve never suffered such an acute sense of loss when a guy left. Maybe it’s because of the abrupt way he had to leave.

  Sure, that’s it.

  Mercy accepts the coffee I hand her and knowing where everything is in my kitchen, helps herself to cream and sugar.

  “What are you up to?” I ask, hoping to take the attention off me.

  Knowing full well what I’m up to, she gives me a sly smile. “Dad asked me to head up his reelection campaign. He thinks I can secure the firefighter vote by flashing some leg.”

  I’ve always thought Mercy’s dad was a bit of a sleaze, and considering my family ties, that’s saying something.

  “Are you going to do it?”

  “Sure. Then next cycle, I’ll go work for his opponent.”

  “I don’t think it works that way.”

  She chuckles and finishes her coffee. “Come on. I appreciate the coffee, but I’m starving. We’ll never get into Gray Gates this late, so let’s run over to Ironworks and go to Nibbles. We have to hurry though or they’ll run out of French toast donuts.”

  My mouth starts watering at the thought of a breakfast pocket from there. “Only if you promise to share an egg and cheese pocket with me.”

  “Sure. You can tell me all about hottie-biker.”

  I roll my eyes and follow her out the door.

  Thirty minutes later, we’re stuffing our faces with what can only be described as heaven in fried-dough form. Warm, sweet and salty donut with a scrambled egg, bacon, and cheddar filling.

  The two tables inside the tiny kitchen/restaurant were taken, so we’re sitting outside on a bench, balancing our goodies on our laps while we eat and gossip.

  “I’m not even kidding. He delivers the orgasms on pure oral skills alone,” I say in a lowered voice.

  Mercy huffs and throws a piece of donut at me. “Liar.”

  I pluck the dough off my sleeve and pop it in my mouth. “Nope. And he’s just as talented with his giant cock.” I’m being overly ridiculous. Mercy and I go way back. She knows I usually don’t get so graphic.

  She slips her hand over her mouth, laughing into her palm. “I’m so damn jealous because I know you’re telling the truth. You’re not usually so detailed,” she says, echoing my thoughts.

  We both laugh.

  “So what’s the catch?” she asks. “If he knows how to fuck, then he’s probably broke or emotionally stunted. Something.”

  Before answering, I glance around the small space. A mother with a toddler glares at us from across the way. “I haven’t figured that out yet.”

  “Well, there’s the club thing. And your uncle. How much say does he have in your life?”

  “None.” I sigh. “He still helps my mother out. But that’s more out of obligation to my dad. I don’t think he’d cut her off to spite me.”

  “Then fuck whatever he thinks. You’re a grown ass woman. You want to date some hottie-biker-stud with an amazing tongue, then you should do so.”

  “Thanks.”

  We spend the afternoon meandering through the farmer’s market that takes up at least three streets of downtown Ironworks every Saturday.

  As I’m picking through heirloom tomatoes and wondering what Marcel likes to eat, my phone buzzes. A check of the screen shows it’s my brother.

  “What’s up, bro?”

  “What’s up is I’m worried about you. You didn’t answer any of my texts. I stopped by your place and you’re not there. I was worried that joker killed you and left you on the side of the highway.”

  Shit. The last thing I wanted to do was make him worry. “I’m fine. I’m at the farmer’s market with Mercy.”

  He’s silent.

  “I’ll make it up to you. Come over for dinner.”

  “None of that farmer’s market frou-frou crap, though. Good old-fashioned greasy pizza.”

  “Deal.”

  We agree on a time and hang up.

  “Aw, was little brother worried about you?”

  “Yeah, he wasn’t thrilled I took Marcel home with me from the party.”

  “You picked up a guy while you were with your brother? How traumatizing.” She snickers and I smack her arm. “Poor kid.”

  “You mind heading back?”

  “Nope. I’m supposed to have a strategy session with my dad tonight.”

  “Lucky you. Is making you work on Saturday nights his way of keeping you single forever?”

  “No. I think he’s trying to set me up with the deputy mayor.”

  “Gross.”

  “Right? He’s as old as my dad.”

  Carter’s already sitting on my front steps when Mercy double-parks in front of my apartment. She reaches over and gives me a quick hug. “Tell him I said hi. I want to get out of here before a CDTA bus rams into me from behind.”

  “Sounds kinky.”

  “Get out of here.” She playfully pushes me out the door.

  Carter walks down the steps to meet me and waves as Mercy drives away. “Get over here,” he says, pulling me up into a hug. “You made me worry.”

  I hug him back just as tight. “I’m fine.”

  “Well, at least you were out with Mercy and didn’t run away to Vegas or somewhere with the outlaw.”

  “You think I’d get married and not invite you?”

  “Christ, you’re not protesting the marrying the outlaw part? That’s just great,” he mutters as he follows me up the front steps.

  Shit, that never occurred to me.

  “I’m not marrying anyone,” I assure him.

  “Good.” He shuts the door behind us and drops down onto my couch, covering his face with his hands. “Mom was on my case all night about where you were and how you behaved, blah, blah, blah. I told her I dropped you off early.”

  “I’m surprised she cares so much.”

  “Ten bucks says Uncle Chuck called and asked her.”

  My nose wrinkles at the thought of my uncle in my business. Did he somehow see me leave with Marcel? Did someone see us together in the parking lot and report back to him?

  “How’s Mercy?” Carter asks.

  “Good. We had fun. We went to Nibbles—”

  “Damn. You two went there without me?”

  “Sorry. Next weekend.”

  “Right. You’ll probably be too busy with what’s-his-face.”

  There’s no way I want to admit to my brother that I hope his prediction is right. “I doubt that.”

  “So are you seeing him again?”

  “I think so. I like him.” I’m not explaining that Marcel said he’d be over later. One, Carter might run screaming from my apartment. Two, what if Marcel changes his mind and doesn’t show up?

  “Really, Charlotte?”

  Someone knocks on my door, saving me from answering my brother.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I make it bac
k to the clubhouse forty-five minutes later. The war room door’s open and I poke my head inside to find Rock, Wrath, Murphy, and Z.

  “What’s up, brother? Get some she-wolf tail?” Z taunts.

  “Fuck you. Why wasn’t your horndog ass there?”

  “Prez needed me elsewhere.”

  “Everything all right?” Rock asks.

  Yeah, Rock’s gonna expect information of some kind about last night. Unfortunately, I got nothing. Nothing except wanting the same woman under me again tonight and the next. “I’m working on something.”

  I jerk my chin at Murphy. “Can I talk to you?”

  Without answering, he stands and follows me into the living room. “What’s up?”

  “Heidi okay?”

  “Bro, she’s fine. Made friends with Tiki’s ol’ lady. She’s Heidi’s age.”

  “Fuck, seriously? That dude’s old enough to be my grandfather.”

  “No shit.”

  “Heidi give you hell?”

  “As soon as we got home.” He snickers and shakes his head. There’s not a damn thing my sister does that he doesn’t love. “She’s not a fan of the Wolf Knights.”

  I snort. “Who would be?”

  The humor drains from his expression and he fixes me with a serious stare. “You had her fucking worried last night.” He cocks his head and runs his gaze over me. “And this morning. Where the fuck were you?”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  He crosses his arms over his chest and raises an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Complicated?”

  I get his confusion. Blake and I don’t have many secrets between us. At least, we never used to. The Wolf Knights are a good motivator not to say anything about Charlotte yet, but it’s more than that. She’s something outside the club that’s completely mine and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible. “Can you drop it?”

  He pins me with an uncertain look and I feel bad for throwing up a wall between us. “I guess,” he finally says. “Come on.” He gestures toward the war room. “Rock wanted to meet with the officers before everyone else gets here.”

  “Shit. I don’t have my numbers.”

  Murphy has the nerve to roll his eyes. “Hurry the fuck up. I’ll let Rock know you’re coming.” He stops and places his hand on my arm. “You had me worried too, you know.”

  “Sorry.” His admission makes me want to come clean with him, but it’s not the right time. “I had a good night.”

  He swallows hard and nods once. “Good.”

  Christ, I can’t stand my best friend getting emotional because I finally got laid. I punch his shoulder. “You look like you’re gonna cry.”

  “Fuck you,” he says without hitting back. Very unlike Murphy. I move to throw another punch and he easily blocks me by grabbing my wrist mid-air. “One. That’s all you get. Hit me again and I’m gonna drop you,” he warns.

  I nod and back away. “I’ll be right down.”

  The first step makes me groan, my body reminding me that I heaped a lot of abuse on it last night. I take a long look at the stairs and seriously consider attending church without my numbers for probably the first time ever.

  Thankfully, no one’s around to witness my hesitation. Or how slow I make it up the stairs.

  At least I’m walking.

  When I first left the hospital, they wanted to fit me with one of those damn chair lift things. No way was I going to move between floors like the old biddy in Gremlins.

  I’m practically limping by the time I slip the key into my lock and open the door to my room. It’s stuffy, so I slide open the window, then throw myself on my bed and stare up at the ceiling.

  A lot of images go through my head. All of them connected to Charlotte. How much I liked hearing her admit she wanted to see me later tonight. Because even if she hadn’t, there’s a good chance I would’ve shown up on her doorstep anyway.

  However, that nagging feeling about her relationship to Merlin won’t stop bothering me.

  Maybe I should come clean at the table today.

  No.

  If I’m not ready to tell Murphy, I definitely don’t want to share with the entire club.

  Not yet.

  I need to have her to myself for a little longer.

  One of two things will happen when I tell the club. Either my brothers will freak out and question me seeing her again—and let’s face it, there’s not a damn thing right now that could keep me away from her.

  Or there’ll be some demands for me to pry information about her uncle’s club out of her.

  I don’t want to do that either.

  For one thing, I have a feeling she doesn’t know much about Merlin’s activities. For another, she’s way too smart. She’ll know what I’m up to and it will ruin whatever she and I might have started last night.

  Now that I have that straight in my head, I log on to my computer, pull up the numbers I need and print them out. Before leaving my room, I grab the papers, a notebook, and grudgingly, my cane.

  Rock’s wearing his impatient president face when I walk in. He’s not big on us being late to church. His gaze drops to the cane I’m using and his expression relaxes, something I both hate and appreciate.

  He doesn’t comment on the cane or ask if I’m all right. It’s not something he’d do in front of everyone else.

  “Where we at on the Wolf Knights?” he asks as soon as I take my seat.

  Skipping right over me, Rock lifts his chin at Murphy.

  “Heidi did okay, Prez.”

  Rock’s gaze lands on me. “How about you?”

  “I’m working on something.” Even though I already decided I wasn’t ready to share, I hate like hell lying to Rock, to my brothers. Strangely, I also feel like I’m betraying Charlotte with my words.

  Rock accepts my words without question and nods at the papers in my hand. “Anything exciting to report?”

  Here’s where I’ll alleviate some guilt for my omission. “Actually, yes. The start-up social networking site we invested in is about to go public.”

  “That little punk in Cali?” Z asks.

  “Yup.”

  “Okay, save that for the general meeting,” Rock instructs. He turns to Wrath. “You good taking the vote today?”

  Wrath nods then opens the door and motions for the others to join us at the table.

  The first order of business is Crystal Ball, the MC’s strip club. Since Z manages it, he speaks first. “There’s been a lull in business, but nothing we haven’t seen before.” He lifts his chin in Dex’s direction. “We’re looking into a few things to spice it up.”

  “What’s spicier than naked chicks?” Ravage asks.

  Rock raises an eyebrow at Dex, silently asking if he has anything to add. When Dex shakes his head, Rock turns his attention to me. “All club accounts are flush. Recently paid our dues to National. There’s some talk that they’re going to ask for an additional percentage to cover some legal fees, but nothing official yet.”

  Rock nods as if he already knows this, which he probably does.

  Everyone groans at the idea of kicking more money up the chain. It comes out of our general club fund, not our own pockets, but still, no one likes giving money away. I pass a spreadsheet around for everyone to look at and prepare myself for the next part.

  Some of my brothers gave me shit when I wanted to invest in this kid’s business idea a few years ago. I knew back then it had the potential to be huge, and now that I’m about to be proven right, I want to savor this moment. Ignoring the smile twitching at the corners of my mouth, I shuffle through the papers in front of me, pretending to study them. “Well, Evan is about to go public, so our investment is about to pay off huge.”

  Sparky shouts, “Yes! I knew that was a good one, Teller.” He’s not lying, he’d been supportive of the hefty cash investment.

  “So, can we finally call ourselves the Billionaire Bikers Club?” Ravage snarks
. I give him the side-eye because he definitely gave me shit for that investment.

  “Not quite but it’ll be close,” I answer with a straight face.

  Low whistles echo in the room. “Shit, bro,” Bricks says. He’d also questioned me at the time.

  Ravage raises his arms in the air, and bends forward, bowing and pressing his forehead to the table. “I’m not worthy, bro. I’ll never question you again.”

  Murphy cracks up and Stash slaps Ravage on the shoulder.

  Bricks nods at me. “All right.”

  I turn and meet Rock’s eyes and he gives me a subtle, proud nod. “Good job.”

  I swallow hard. “Thanks.” Rock’s put a lot of faith and trust in me since I was a kid and his opinion matters the most to me.

  Across the table, Wrath grins at me. “Knew you’d be perfect for that Treasurer’s patch.”

  Wrath’s opinion is a close second and I nod at him once.

  Sparky dances in his seat, waving his hand in the air, even though he’s maybe five feet away from Rock. “Boss! Boss! This seems like a good time to remind everyone we need to upgrade the solar panels.” He points to the roof with both hands as if we’re not aware of where the clubhouse’s solar panels rest. “And some of the equipment downstairs. And we should add another windmill—”

  “Easy, brother,” Z says. “We also need to replenish the club’s legal fund and look into some tech upgrades to the property.”

  Rock raises both hands in an “ease up” sort of gesture. “Let’s get the money in the club’s account before we go spending it.” He glances at me. “You good?” he asks.

  “Yup. I have an LLC set up and in place. I should have hard numbers in a few weeks. And we’ll need to decide what we’re selling and what we’re keeping.”

  “Keep us posted.” Rock’s gaze settles on Murphy. “What’d you learn last night?”

  Murphy sits up, placing his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers together. “Well, Heidi made friends with Tiki’s old lady, who’s quite loose-lipped.”

  “I’m sure that’s not all that’s loose on her,” Ravage quips.

  No one laughs.

  “She says they’ve made a lot of trips to Vermont lately to party with another club out there.”