Wake Me Up (Fallen Angels MC Book 2)

by Laura Day

  “Yes.”

  “No,” She insisted.

  “We can keep doing this, or you can accept that I can pick you up and carry you inside if I need to. I know I don’t look like a weightlifter, but I’m no lightweight.”

  “Reason one: he’s a rat bastard. Reason two: I don’t want to risk bringing that kind of hell down on Jack’s family. Declan could have killed Gloria. I can barely stand that. What do you think he’d do if he found out I was staying with friends?”

  “Hopefully? Think that it had nothing to do with me, so that he still thinks I’m on his side, and I can get close enough to stab him in the back. It makes sense that you’d be scared after he broke into the house, and you’d run to a friend. It makes more sense than you picking up and heading south, actually. So you’ll be safe there, and I can take care of things.”

  “And your big plan is that you ride into the garage like a cowboy, and somehow convince everyone that Declan is a big bad monster, and then they all fall in line behind you, and Declan wanders off like a kicked puppy with his tail between his legs, and there’s no consequences for anyone?”

  His jaw was working hard, and he didn’t say anything at all.

  “Because I’m sure I’ve heard of worse plans than that. Somewhere. It's a terrible plan and it's not going to turn out the way you think it will.”

  “What would you have me do?”

  “Same damn thing I’ve been suggesting from the beginning. Take this to the cops.”

  “Dammit, Caroline, we’ve been over this. The cops are dirty. The fact that Declan knew we were asking questions proves it. We turn this over to them, it all goes to hell. And one of the few things that’s keeping him from doing even more disgusting things than he’s already doing goes away.”

  “And what if he ends up dead? Do you think dirty cops won’t know who to pin that on, too?”

  His eyes flicked from the road to her for just a moment, then back again, as he adjusted his grip on the steering wheel.

  “Didn’t think of that, did you? It’s not going to be easy, Mason. I don’t know how you’re going to pull this off.”

  “Yeah. I don’t know either.” His eyes locked on the road, then, and he turned the radio up loud enough that conversation was impractical. She thought about calling 911 and telling them that she’d been kidnapped, but what was really the point? This was annoying, and she would have preferred doing things her way, but Mason—so far, he was a “his way” kind of guy. And if she was really thinking that she wanted him in her life in any capacity at all, she was going to have to accept that. At least, to some degree.

  She smiled as she rested her head on the window and closed her eyes. He’d get a surprise or two, eventually. She wasn’t always this easy to push around.

  CHAPTER NINE

  When Caroline gave in, resting her head against the window and relaxing back into sleep, Mason breathed a sigh of relief. She was a spitfire, and he loved that about her, but the possibility of her calling the cops on him was not nonexistent. He was pretty sure, once she’d calmed down and stopped shouting, that it wasn’t going to happen, but it wasn’t until she went to sleep that he believed he was safe. From her, at least.

  She was right about Declan. The jackass wouldn’t stop. He was like a rabid dog; he needed to be put down the same way. The rest of the guys who’d been working with him—Mason was fairly sure they’d just vanish into the night once Declan was gone, leaving behind the club that had been his family these past few years. But Declan. Declan had to be stopped.

  It’d have to be quick. It’d have to be somewhere where the body wouldn’t be found. After all, it would just be a missing persons case until they had a body, and a guy like Declan—no one would be looking too hard for him. Hell, they might give him a medal for getting rid of the asshole.

  But before he could do anything, Caroline had to be safe. Jack had promised to watch out for her, and as much as it went against the grain of everything he’d learned since he came back from deployment, he had to trust someone. He couldn’t go after Declan again without knowing that Caroline would be okay. When he’d gone to the house where he’d hoped she’d meet him, and she wasn’t there, his heart had dropped into his stomach; when he’d gone back to the house, and seen the destruction left in the wake of her rapid departure, he’d panicked. He couldn’t go through that again.

  Sooner or later, he was going to have to admit to this woman that he was falling in love with her. His stomach twisted at the thought of it. He was fairly sure that facing down Declan would be easier.

  ***

  Caroline woke up as the car slowed down. She rubbed her eyes and wiped the drool off her chin, blinking around blearily as she waited for reality to catch up with her. Yes, they were in Jack’s neighborhood, on the other side of town from her. She stretched as best as she could in the car, and then glanced over at Mason again. His grip on the wheel was still white-knuckled; if possible, it was even tighter.

  “We're here,” she said, and he nodded once, too fast. “You okay?”

  His laugh was quick and brutal. “If it were just me and the dog, Caro, We’d be driving west as fast as this little import would go. I’d put together a new bike in Seattle and we’d start over. But it’s not just us. I wish to hell it was, but it’s not.”

  “Of course it’s not,” she said, and she read surprise in his face as she laid her hand on his thigh. After a moment, he covered her hand with his, squeezing tight. “They’re your family. You need to protect them. I get it.”

  The surprise was even thicker on his face now. “I didn’t think—”

  “That a suit like me would ever get it?”

  He snorted a laugh. “Yeah, basically.”

  She shrugged. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t think I would, either. But...yeah.” She squeezed his hand again. “So...if you’re leaving me at Jack and Missy’s, and they’re going to enforce your crazy lockdown...you realize what’s likely to be the evening's entertainment?”

  “I’m counting on you telling me all about it later.”

  Caroline laughed out loud. “Just make sure there will be a ‘later’ when I can tell you about it, all right?”

  “Agreed.”

  They pulled into the driveway of Jack and Missy’s two-story Colonial. She’d been there a few times, for office parties and such, but she’d never really managed to socialize outside of that. It felt odd, that this was her refuge, but where else was she really ever going to go?

  Mason pulled the car into the waiting garage, then turned off the engine. After a moment, he touched Caroline’s hand again. “There’s something I need you to know—”

  The door to the house opened, and Jack was standing on the top step. Mason pulled his hand back so fast that Caroline almost thought she might have given him a burn. “Did you find her? Was she okay?”

  Caroline stepped out of the car, and Jack nearly ran around to her side to hug her.

  “I need to go,” Mason said, walking back over to his bike, which had been stashed against the front wall of the garage. “I need to talk to some people, get some information. We need to deal with this, as quickly as possible. Before anyone else gets hurt.”

  He reached a hand out to Jack, and there was no hesitation before Jack shook it firmly. “I got her up here. You guys make sure she doesn’t run off and do something stupid, okay?”

  “Hello,” Caroline said. “Standing right here.”

  Mason reached forward, curled his arm around her waist, and pulled her into his chest with one quick motion. “Be here when I come back.”

  “Okay,” she said, her heart rabbiting in her chest. She expected his kiss to be hard, forceful, and passionate. Instead, it was feather light and sweet, a delicate butterfly brush of his lips over hers.

  “See you soon,” he whispered, and then he was walking to his motorcycle and gone. She had the strangest, nearly overwhelming urge to cry.

  “Come inside,” Missy said. “Let’s get some dinner.�
��

  She stayed still until she couldn’t hear the engine of his bike any more, and then she followed Missy and Jack inside.

  CHAPTER TEN

  They’d made grilled chicken, roasted corn on the cob, and potato salad—the quintessential New England summer meal. Jack reached into the fridge for another hard cider, and Caroline accepted it with a nod, joining them at the picnic table in the backyard and trying to smile.

  It felt incredibly fake to be there, and she'd felt a tug under her belly button—an almost magnetic pull—towards the direction that Mason had taken. Letting him face this down alone seemed incredibly wrong. She’d set him on this path; abandoning him to face the dragon alone seemed as much a problem as being the princess waiting in the tower. Gross, either way.

  She didn’t know how much Jack had told Missy. From what she knew of their marriage, and what she knew about Jack, he’d probably told her the basic outline, but downplayed the danger. Which was just another reason to feel guilty.

  “So, Caroline,” Missy gave her a wide smile that Caroline forced herself to return. “Jack tells me that he made a bargain with you to do a favor for you?”

  Caroline felt heat wash through her cheeks, and she tried not to spontaneously combust. She wasn’t sure she’d felt this awkward or goofy since high school, when she’d forced herself to ask a guy to prom and he’d laughed at her in front of the entire lunchroom. “Yes,” she made herself say.

  The look on Missy’s face was an odd mix of trying not to laugh and—trying not to be disappointed? “I just want you to know that I’m not expecting anything. I consider it a joke between friends, unless you choose to take us up on it. If you do, well, then that’s just fine.” She reached out, hesitated, and then laid her hand over Caroline’s. “I’m sorry he brought it up that way. It was extremely rude of him.” Her eyes stayed focused on Caroline’s, but her words were entirely for Jack, and it gave Caroline space to giggle.

  Jack was utterly unbothered as he cut into his chicken. “I’m not complaining, either way,” he said. “For the record. I’m just glad that everyone’s here, and safe.”

  After dinner, Jack conscripted Missy to help make brownies, and Caroline took a shower. Her brain was spinning a mile a minute. The sex with Mason earlier had been wonderful, but right now, her skin was crawling with the urge to be touched, the need to touch someone and garner reassurance.

  She’d never felt this way before, and she both liked it, and didn’t. It was easier, being on her own, just her and Gloria. So much easier. Relying on people got people hurt. Falling for people, and then not having then in your life hurt. Everything fucking hurt.

  She scrubbed her skin like she could scrub the feelings out from under her fingernails, but nothing changed.

  She liked the way Missy looked at her. Polite, respectful—and interested. Even Mason hadn’t looked at her like that, not until she’d made herself interesting. Missy saw something in her. That was intoxicating, all on its own.

  There was a tap on the bathroom door. Caroline wiped off her cheeks--not that anyone would be able to see her through the frosted glass--and called out. “Yeah, come in.”

  “Just me,” Missy called out, and Caroline could see her through the glass, as distorted as Caroline’s frame probably appeared to her. She looked at her through the fun-house glass and tried to understand her body’s reaction.

  Missy was tall, narrow, with a runner’s frame and lanky muscle. Everything about her was sharp, from her features to her elbows and her knees. Missy and Jack hadn’t had kids, but whether that was choice or fate she didn’t know, and hadn’t ever asked. “I brought you some clothes to change into. Lounge pants, a tank top. Should fit fine.” Caroline saw her set the clothing down on the sink.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “I freaked you out, didn’t I? I shouldn’t have said anything. I just didn’t want you to be worried that I was going to jump your bones or something.”

  “I wasn’t,” she said. “And you didn’t.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Caroline took a deep breath. “I’m not sure what to talk about. I don’t—it’s not something I’ve ever done, not something I’ve ever really thought about doing. I had no idea it was something you and Jack were into. And I’ve never… been with a girl. So I just… I don’t know how to decide what to do.”

  “Well,” Missy said, and there was a dark, warm undertone to her voice, something that made Caroline’s body twist up in that familiar heat, “You decide what you want. And then you decide if Mason will be okay with what you want. And then you talk to him about what you want. And then you get what you want. Whatever that might be.”

  “I don’t know what I want. I don’t have any basis for comparison. I—women are beautiful, clearly, but I’ve never been attracted to anyone in particular. And I… am interested in the idea, and Mason would be fine with it, but I just… don’t know.”

  Missy was quiet for a bit, and Caroline stood in the shower spray, hoping that she hadn’t accidentally offended her friend’s wife. Finally, she spoke again, that dark thread still weaving through her words. “Do you think I could try something?”

  The rush of heat down into her mound told Caroline plenty about what her body felt about playing with this lovely woman. “Sure.”

  “Do you mind if I come into the shower?”

  “No, not at all.” Her heart was beating so fast that it was going to slam straight through her ribcage, she was sure of it.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  She watched through the glass as Missy slid her jeans down, pulled her T-shirt over her head, and then unfastened her bra. Missy twisted her hair up off her neck and moved slowly across the bathroom, and when she pulled open the glass door, Caroline thought her heart might just stop entirely.

  Missy was beautiful in a way that stole all her words. Her eyes skimmed the other woman’s thin form—small breasts, narrow hips. “Hi,” she said, and Caroline couldn’t stop staring at Missy’s nipples, pert, small, erect, her areola as pebbled and tight as her nipples themselves.

  “Hi,” Caroline said, stepping back to give Missy room to step into the shower. Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat, trying not to laugh nervously.

  “Can I have your hand?”

  Caroline held it out, and Missy took it, turning it over gently, and pressing her lips delicately to the thin skin on her wrist, where her pulse was throbbing under her skin. Caroline felt her knees give out, and caught herself on the towel bar inside the shower.

  “Oh my god,” she whispered, and she felt Missy laugh against her skin. Her lips parted, and her tongue traced over Caroline’s skin, down her palm, turning it so that she could take Caroline’s forefinger into her mouth, curling her tongue over the digit delicately.

  Missy dragged it out of her mouth as Caroline fought to keep breathing while her teeth scraped gently over the skin. Each of Caroline’s fingers got the same treatment before Missy’s mouth came back to her wrist, teasing its way up her forearm, then jumping up to her collarbone, teasing and nipping up her throat before she finally kissed Caroline.

  Her mouth was soft, delicate, tentative; it was Caroline who brought her hands to Missy’s shoulders, then to her neck, deepening the kiss and opening her mouth to Missy’s gently probing tongue. Missy was the one who gasped and whimpered then, her hands on Caroline’s hips.

  Caroline’s nerves were on fire, craving touch and release. She knew that part of it was just the need to feel safe and connected, but as much of it was the beautiful woman in front of her. Her heart still pounding, she let her hands slip down Missy’s skin to her small breasts, tentatively touching the pebbled nipples.

  Missy broke the kiss and took a deep breath, her forehead resting against Caroline’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’ve never kissed a woman before?”

  Caroline laughed. “I’m fairly sure I’d remember.”

  “Mm, fair. Okay. I’m going to get out of this shower before I fling m
yself on you and beg forgiveness later. You think about things, and let me—let us know what you want.” Missy smiled, and Caroline felt her heart swell. “Enjoy your shower.”

  She watched the other woman leave with what appeared, at least from this side, to be total calm. Her ribs felt like they would crack under the pressure of her heart, and between that and the steam from the shower, her head was swirling a bit. She leaned against the shower wall and twisted the water to cold, just to try and clear her head. She’d never actually taken a cold shower before.

  She washed her hair and then stepped out, scrunching most of the water out of her hair so it wouldn’t drip and then twisting it up into a loose bun. The clothes Missy had brought her were a loose pair of lounge pants and a tank top fitted enough to work as some kind of boob support. She slid into the clean clothes gratefully, missing her own wardrobe but thankful to have something on her body that didn’t remind her of the last twenty four hours.