Beyond Reckless

by Autumn Jones Lake

  “I still don’t like it.”

  “I’m not thrilled either. I’ll go. Stay long enough that I don’t offend him, then leave. All right?”

  “Text me when you get there. And before you leave.”

  I agree and we go find the girls.

  Heidi doesn’t seem thrilled I’m not coming home with them but withholds her opinion.

  I watch as they take off before opening the door for Charlotte. She leans up, slipping her arms around my neck. “We don’t have to go.”

  Instead of answering, I capture her lips with mine and wrap my arms around her.

  After a few seconds, she pulls away. “Are you trying to shut me up with your body? Because it kind of works and I don’t think I like that.”

  Laughter rumbles out of me and I kiss her forehead. Giving her a quick pop on the butt, I nudge her toward the truck and shut her door once she’s inside.

  My gaze collides with one of Merlin’s brothers across the parking lot and the smile slides off my face. I place him as the same one who’d been talking to Charlotte earlier and wave at him, not sorry at all he got an eyeful.

  Inside the truck, Charlotte’s fidgeting with her dress. I start the engine but don’t put it in gear. In my side mirror, I spot the Wolf Knight still watching us.

  “You got a boyfriend you need to tell me about?”

  Charlotte’s face screws into a scowl before she realizes I’m teasing.

  She slides her gaze to her mirror. “That’s Hudson. What’s wrong, was he watching you grope my ass?” she asks with false indignation.

  “You two have history?”

  Before answering she turns away. “Not that I know of.”

  It’s an odd answer and I’m not sure what to make of it.

  She sighs. “I’ve never dated anyone in my uncle’s club. Hudson and I used to hang out and talk once in a while when we were teenagers. He moved away and I haven’t seen him since. That’s it.”

  Reaching over, I take her hand. “He probably wanted to fuck you, but was afraid Merlin would kill him.”

  She snorts. “The feeling wasn’t mutual.” In a softer voice, she says, “I meant what I said. We don’t have to go.”

  “Things are tense between our clubs.” I grip the steering wheel squeezing hard. “I’m trying not to do anything your uncle’s gonna perceive as disrespectful.”

  Her jaw drops and she exhales a surprised breath.

  “Are you okay with this?” I ask. “You’ve seemed edgy all day.”

  “I know you won’t let anything happen to me.”

  Although I love the way her trust feels, I can’t help thinking that it’s strange she has more faith in me to keep her safe than her own flesh and blood.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Murphy had the right idea to head home.

  The Wolf Knight Family Outing is over.

  Old ladies and children have been sent away. Men I watched hang out with their wives and kids are busy getting blown by club whores out the in the open. Charlotte’s hand tightens on mine as we follow Merlin to a cluster of chairs near their war room.

  Surprisingly, having Charlotte sitting next to me doesn’t deter these club girls from approaching. They’re so persistent and obnoxious it almost feels like I’m being set up.

  Charlotte snuggles into my side and ignores the girls, which seems to annoy Merlin.

  Maybe he’s trying to test his niece.

  Either way, I’m bored with the games.

  After I finally shake off a girl who introduced herself as Eden and asked if I wanted to see her garden, I’m ready to get the fuck out of here. She passes by Hudson who watches her with a hungry look bordering on pathetic.

  “Here comes your boyfriend,” I whisper against Charlotte’s ear.

  She glances over and rolls her eyes. “Says the man with the bunny fan club.”

  My thumb brushes her bare shoulder. “Nobunny compares to you.”

  She snickers at my wordplay and leans into me. Despite how annoying this situation is, joking around with Charlotte keeps me sane.

  The VP for the Wolf Knights, Keeper, takes the chair across from us and calls Hudson over.

  Merlin chuckles. “Eden wanting to show her garden to someone else got you bent, Hudson?”

  Rolling his eyes, Hudson drops down on the other side of Charlotte. “Thanks, Prez. I’m good.” He leans over, holding out his hand and I take it. “Teller, right? I’m Hudson. We didn’t get to talk earlier.”

  Charlotte pats my leg. “I was telling him we used to hang out before you even patched in and then you moved away and deserted me.”

  The corner of Hudson’s mouth turns up. “True. She was always pestering me to teach her how to ride.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “That so?”

  She shrugs. “Probably.”

  I think she has more to say, but she flicks her gaze at her uncle and closes her mouth.

  “Your buddy coming?” Hudson asks. “Murphy?”

  “Nah, they had to get home and relieve their babysitter.”

  Merlin seizes onto that. “Jesus, didn’t realize your sister already had a kid.”

  I nod slowly, not really comfortable talking about my family with anyone here. “She’ll be a year old in a few months.”

  “Congratulations,” Keeper says. As if I had anything to do with it.

  One of the South of Satan members I met earlier joins us. He’s young and by the shine on his cut, I assume he only patched in recently.

  “Why ain’t you with a girl, Sticks?” Keeper asks.

  Merlin perks up. “You’re wearing your cut. That’s all they care about.” He waves his hand at the open room. “Just grab one of ’em by the pussy. She’ll be thrilled.”

  The slack-jawed stare I’m wearing catches Merlin’s attention. “Am I right, Teller?”

  I meet his challenging stare head-on before addressing the young SOS member. “Careful where you use that approach, kid. Try it in my clubhouse and you’re asking for a bullet to the leg.”

  “LOKI whores packing now, Teller?” Keeper asks.

  “No.” I turn my glare on him. “Kings are.”

  Next to me, Charlotte squirms, but I don’t take my eyes off Keeper.

  “What the hell else are they there for?” Merlin asks.

  It’s hard to tell if he means club girls or women in general.

  Fuck knows I’ve encountered men with this entitled attitude plenty of times. But that isn’t how we run our club.

  His attitude disgusts me and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Don’t give a fuck what patch is sewn onto his cut.

  This is worse than I expected.

  First the bunnies who had trouble digesting the word no. I don’t think that was anything other than a game Chuck put in motion. Any number of possible outcomes would have suited Chuck’s needs.

  If Teller succumbed to their charms, I’d dump him on the spot.

  If I went psycho and ripped Eden’s hair out after that invitation to her garden, it would make Teller look bad in front of the Wolf Knights.

  And finally, if Teller had turned nasty or violent in his rejection of the girls, it would be a deal breaker for me. While plenty of old ladies are okay with their men treating the club whores like shit to “prove” their affection for them, I’ve always found that behavior disgusting. Because if a man’s comfortable hitting one woman, eventually, he’ll hit you too. A painful lesson a lot of old ladies eventually learned.

  Teller took it in stride. Said “no thanks” several times. Gently removed a hand or two from his shoulder. But most importantly, kept his arm firmly around me, declaring to everyone he was spoken for.

  So while I didn’t enjoy my ringside seat to the bunny parade, I love and respect Teller even more because of the way he handled it.

  Too bad your plan backfired, Chuck.

  Then of course, there’s the delightful “grab ’em by the pussy” approach to dating Chuck endorsed. It’s not news to me that he thinks h
is patch is all the permission he needs to manhandle any woman he wants. I vividly recall my father once asking Chuck if that’s the way he’d want a man to treat me.

  Teller though? Despite his claim that his club didn’t treat women that way, I assumed he’d laugh with them.

  We are after all outnumbered. And in my uncle’s clubhouse. I wouldn’t have faulted him for taking the safe approach and going along with their disgusting banter.

  I should’ve known better.

  A yes-man is no man at all.

  And Teller is all man.

  They stare each other down for a few more minutes before my uncle laughs it off and signals Whisper to join us.

  Icy fear snakes through my stomach as he approaches. Chuck could be signaling his sergeant-at-arms over because he actually wants to talk to him or as a subtle threat to Teller to keep his mouth shut.

  It’s hard to tell.

  Teller crosses one leg over the other, ankle resting on his knee, casual as can be.

  Not threatened at all.

  It’s like I’m fifteen all over again. This deep primal part of me still finds swagger intoxicating. Except, Teller’s is actually backed up by solid confidence, not arrogance. He’s not intimidated by anyone.

  I’m hot everywhere.

  When a respectable amount of time has gone by, he stands and holds his hand out for me.

  “It’s still early. You leaving?” Whisper asks.

  “Yeah, my girl has to work early,” Teller answers, pulling me into his side.

  My uncle stands. “I’ll walk you out.”

  “Thanks for the hospitality today.”

  “Sure thing,” Chuck answers in a tight voice. He’s not going to let Teller’s comments go so easily. He grabs me, hugging me tightly, then slings his arm over my shoulders and faces Teller. “Take good care of my girl.”

  This game, Teller plays, giving my uncle a respectful nod. “Yes, sir.”

  Once we’re on the road, I slide my hand over Marcel’s leg. “I’m so going to jump you when we get to my place.”

  He glances over with a raised eyebrow and half-smile. “Oh, yeah?”

  “I think it was the ‘bullet to the leg’ comment.” I slide my hand from his knee to his shoulder, running my fingers through his hair.

  He makes a disgusted noise. “I fucking hate that shit.”

  We don’t say much else until he pulls into the spot behind my house. “Let me send a quick text,” he mutters. “Murphy didn’t like us going alone.”

  I’m touched at the way the two of them look out for each other.

  When he’s finished, he slides his phone into his pocket and turns my way. “Now, I believe you said something about jumping me?”

  Charlotte’s side of the bed is cold when I wake the next morning. The scent of coffee hanging in the air fully pulls me from sleep.

  Before I pull myself out of bed to search for her, she walks into the bedroom. “What are you doing up already?”

  “It’s Monday. Us office drones need to get moving.” The quirk of her lips tells me she’s teasing as she comes closer and sits next to me. I take in her bright blue dress with some sort of white pattern and bare feet. “You look pretty.”

  “Thanks. I have a bunch of appointments scheduled today.”

  My hand lands on her leg, right above her knee. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

  She reaches out, touching my cheek. “You took such good care of me last night, I thought you deserved to sleep in.”

  I turn my head, kissing her fingers. “Let me make you breakfast.”

  “No time. I’m meeting a colleague for coffee.” Her gaze strays to the clock on her nightstand. “Shit, in twenty minutes.”

  She leans over and kisses me quickly, then darts over to her closet while I speculate who the “colleague” she’s meeting for breakfast might be.

  Tipping my head up, I find her watching me as she wraps a shiny blue belt around her waist. She bends over, snagging a pair of bright blue heels and slips them on her feet, oblivious that she flashes me a whole lot of cleavage in the process.

  “You’re pretty.”

  She flashes a quick smile. “You said that already.”

  Fuck it, I don’t have time to putz around. “Who are you meeting?”

  Instead of getting pissed, her expression softens and she slows her movements. “Dawn. She’s a friend from law school. We did our clinical together second year, but I haven’t seen her much since. We ran into each other last week and made plans to get together. You know, so we could bitch about how no one warned us practicing law would suck so much.”

  I snort and throw back the sheet, but she hurries out of the room. I’m slipping on my jeans when the soft click of her heels on the worn hardwood floor makes me turn my head. She leans against the doorframe, watching me dress. “It’s a crime to cover all that up, Marcel.”

  Holding out my arms, I turn and give her a good show. “Hey, it was yours for the taking this morning.”

  I freeze in place when I see what’s dangling from her fingers. “Don’t freak out on me. You’re here a lot and I work such weird hours. You don’t have to leave this morning. Right now, I mean. If you don’t want to.” Her cheeks are red by the time she forces all those words out.

  Moving in on her, I snatch the small silver key out of her hand. “Why would I freak out?” I ask, placing my hands on her hips and backing her against the wall.

  She lifts one shoulder and won’t meet my eyes. “I don’t know.”

  I brush a kiss against her neck and gently nip her earlobe. “You givin’ me the key to your place, Sunshine?” I whisper.

  The ends of her hair tickle my arm as she nods. “If you want it.”

  “Oh, I fuckin’ want it.” I frame her face with my hands, forcing her to meet my eyes. “Thank you.”

  “What are your plans today?” she asks, then holds her hands up. “Making conversation. Not trying to keep tabs on you. I’m not that girl.”

  “What if I want you to be that girlfriend? What if I like you keeping tabs on me?”

  A hesitant smile twitches at the corners of her mouth and I kiss her again. Stepping back and releasing her, I jerk my head toward the front door. “You better get going. Otherwise, I’m taking you back to bed.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Even though Charlotte gave me a key and encouraged me to stay if I wanted to, I have other plans.

  My first errand takes longer than expected, but I set everything I need in motion and it should be finished by the time Charlotte gets home from work.

  Next, I check in at the clubhouse. Murphy’s in the garage when I pull up.

  “Thank fuck,” he says, walking over. He gives me a quick hug. “You had me worried, dick.”

  “Why? I sent you a text.”

  He lifts his shoulders. “How’d it go.”

  “Merlin’s an asshole.”

  “Yeah, well, we knew that.” He tips his head toward the clubhouse. “Rock’s looking for you.”

  “You tell him about SOS being there?”

  “Fuck yeah, I did.”

  I give him a fist-bump before heading inside. The door to the office stands open and I poke my head inside. “Looking for me, Prez?” I ask with a grin on my face.

  He glances up, then stands. “Figured you’d show up sooner or later. Everything okay?”

  “Yup.” For the first time in a long time, I realize it’s actually true. Shit, I’m turning into a chick, all worked up because my girl gave me a key to her apartment.

  And I don’t even care.

  “Are you free?” Rock asks.

  Shit, I just got home.

  But this is club life. Always something.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Z’s bike had some parts stripped off down at Crystal Ball,” he explains as we walk outside.

  “You fuckin’ serious?” That’s pretty damn bold. Not that it doesn’t happen all the time. Plenty of clubs deal in stolen parts. Mo
st of those assholes know not to fuck with us.

  “He’s got that place under pretty heavy surveillance. Who did it?”

  “Can’t tell much from the video.” He gives me a wry look. “As you can imagine, he’s a little keyed up. Loco says he might know something but only wants to talk in person.” Rock’s jaw tightens. “Fuck if I know why.”

  “I think he’s looking for a mentor,” I offer with a straight face.

  Rock glares at me. “Get in the cage.” He gestures to his big black Suburban.

  We must have shitty luck, because the second we pass the Empire City limits, lights and sirens flash behind us.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Rock grumbles.

  The officer takes his time ambling over and when he finally sticks his head through the window, he looks all of about nineteen. “Know why I pulled you over, sir?”

  “No,” Rock answers in a tight voice, handing over his license and insurance card.

  A few seconds later the kid returns. “Sorry, Mr. North. Have a good afternoon.”

  “Mind telling me why you pulled me over in the first place?”

  The kid trembles and his hand grazes the gun at his hip. “Uh, the tint on the vehicle is a little dark.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  I can’t help laughing and after a minute, Rock laughs with me and puts the truck in gear. “Always fucking something.”

  “At least you know Tony’s earning his keep. Never seen one of them return so fast to apologize.”

  Instead of laughing, he nods and turns serious again. “Heard you mixed it up with SOS yesterday?”

  I’d been waiting for this. “Don’t get excited. I didn’t learn much.” I recount my day in detail. “Merlin’s having a tantrum about Ironworks.”

  “Fuck him. He can barely handle his own fuckin’ territory.”

  “True.”

  He shakes his head. “Always knew having three MCs in this area would eventually blow up.”

  This is true and it is odd. Our club holds down from Empire County to the Canadian border. The Vipers had dominated Ironworks which borders Empire County until we eliminated them. Wolf Knights have always held Slater County to the west of Empire. Our downstate charter holds the area down to NYC, which we want no part of. Neither the Wolf Knights nor the Vipers have other charters in New York.