by K E Osborn
“Of course, it’s what biker women do, right?” I tease.
Ace tilts his head like it’s the most truth ever spoken while the girls laugh behind me. As I look over his gorgeous face, he has his man bun pulled back but messily. He really is a sight to behold as he stands there looking down at me, all tall, muscles, and brawn. After seeing Trax coming out of Ruby’s room, I feel like I can allow myself a little extra time to appreciate looking at Ace. If Trax is going to play up, maybe I should too?
“What are your plans for the day?” he asks out of nowhere.
I shrug. “Not much. There’s hardly anything to do around here other than work.”
He purses his lips tilting his head. “What do you do?”
“I’m a website designer and tester. That’s why I have a bunch of computer gear in my room.”
His smile beams wide like a child on Christmas morning. It’s like I’ve said something amazing to him. “I always wanted to look into website design. You think you can teach me some new techniques?”
Excitement grows inside of me, so I stand from my seat only now noticing the girls have completely stopped their conversation and are watching the interaction between us. “Yeah for sure,” I reply as I look back to the girls who all raise their brows at me suggestively. In turn, I roll my eyes before I swivel and walk off with Ace with his hand on my back as he leads me toward the chapel. In all the times I’ve been here, I’ve never once stepped foot inside the Defiance chapel. I know it kind of goes against everything they stand for. It’s not like women aren’t allowed, it’s just only certain people are supposed to be in there. I have no real idea why Ace is leading me toward it right now, but I’m just going with the flow. I trust him, so I’ll take his lead.
My footsteps are light as I approach, and he opens the door leading me in. I feel like I’m breaking some cardinal rule by stepping foot on their sacred ground. He closes the door behind us. Suddenly, I feel like a giddy school girl. I can’t contain my smile as I look around the room. The giant wooden table taking center stage in the middle of the chapel takes my breath away as he edges me further inside.
“I feel like I shouldn’t be in here,” I murmur making him chuckle.
“You really shouldn’t, but my desk is in here. You kinda can’t get to it otherwise,” he tells me as he leads me to the back where I see his computer workstation all set up. We walk past some black filing cabinets, past his desk to see his elaborate computer equipment. He really is a nerd.
“Ohhh… you’re showing me your man cave,” I tease with a little sarcasm.
He lets out a loud laugh as he sits in the computer chair. I stand by him as he clicks on some keys to bring up something on one of his many screens. It’s pretty much dark web shit from what I can make out, but he clicks out of it before I can see too much. I’m more about webpage design than the programming side anyway. Plus, I’m pretty sure what he does and what I do are two entirely different things.
“So, tell me. Do you use script when building a page? I just want to know what’s the best way to go about it. We need some pages for our legitimate businesses. Torque wants me to build them, so I’m using those online web builders, but if I can do them properly, then I want to be able to. Think you can give me some pointers?”
“Well, yeah, but those online page builders can only do so much. You need to use HTML and CSS. Once you master it, you can really get around building a page much cleaner, which results in quicker upload and download times.”
He smirks like I’ve said something funny. “I know a little about HTML. Okay, pull up a seat. We’re gonna play around making a mock-up.”
The tone in his voice makes me think he actually knows quite a lot about coding a website, and maybe this all might be a ploy to get me to spend some time with him. But I’ll take it, it’s nice to have a friend here.
***
Bumping into his side again with my shoulder, I let out a loud laugh. “No, stop. You’re wasting time,” I blurt out as he makes the GIF of a duck waddle across the screen.
He chuckles hitting the copy and paste key making another duck appear on the page.
I groan shaking my head. “Oh my God!” I laugh as I reach over him hitting the delete key frantically. He grabs at my hands to make me stop, pulling me to the side as we both laugh uncontrollably almost making our chairs topple over in the playful movements. I have to grab at my stomach I’m laughing so hard as he reaches out patting my back. I look up at him, our eyes connecting for a brief moment. His expression is glowing as our laughter dies down while we continue to look at each other. He sighs, finally looking away from me, back to the computer deleting the one remaining duck from the screen.
I let out another small giggle. “Fucking ducks!”
Ace reaches out pushing my shoulder playfully. He moves in grabbing the mouse absentmindedly about to save the file, but he’s clicking on the wrong thing. He’s about to upload the entire mess to the actual server. Our fake website has nonsense about ducks and biker terminology that’s completely incorrect, and it’s about to go live!
“No! Not that,” I yell reaching out, my hand placing over his on the mouse to stop him. Then I lean him over to the right area to save the file instead of uploading the damn thing to the server. But in doing so, I’m leaning in really close, right by his side, so close I can smell his woodsy aftershave, and the stubble of his beard is tickling my cheek. I press my fingers against his on the mouse as closeness moves between us. He shifts his head slightly, so we’re a little too close while I redirect him.
“There,” I murmur, his face right against mine. Right at that moment the door swings open. Torque and Trax walk in, in the midst of a discussion about something.
I stand up abruptly even though I wasn’t doing anything wrong, but it makes it look like I was doing something completely wrong.
Trax and Torque stare at me.
My stomach sinks as I watch Trax’s face scrunch while he looks from me to Ace, shaking his head.
“Mylee what are you doing in here?” Trax booms.
Ace throws his hands in the air in surrender. “I brought her in here to show me some website tricks.”
“You should’ve run that past me, brother,” Torque grunts out.
Trax looks increasingly angry, the intensity of his stare grows by the second. My hands move in front of me, my thumbs rubbing together in nervousness as my body riddles in an uncomfortable tension. The air in the room frosts over as an arctic breeze shifts through the air.
Ace shakes his head. “This is on me, Pres. I brought Mylee in here. Don’t lay her out for this. This is all me. We were doing tech shit, so I needed my computers.”
Torque puffs his chest, but I can’t keep my eyes off the reddening face of Trax. His eyes are what’s scaring me, the darkness in them. He looks hurt. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m in here with Ace, or simply because I’m in here, in their sacred room, it’s what’s scaring me. I need to leave. I should never have been in here. A shudder runs over my spine as I look to the floor with a long exhale, starting to walk for the door. “Sorry for being in here. I don’t want to cause any trouble.”
Trax grunts moving forward stopping my movements. “Well, you should have thought about that before you fucked around with Ace.”
“Trax,” Torque warns as Ace stands from his desk rounding it to come and stand next to me, but it only makes Trax more agitated.
“What? Am I wrong?” Trax asks.
I find some inner strength, and looking up at Trax, I feel my confidence climbing. “What if you’re not? What if Ace and I are fucking around? What does it matter to you, Trax? We’re…” I point between him and me, “… only friends anyway. You’ve made that perfectly clear,” I blurt out.
Everyone looks at me.
I’m normally the quiet and reserved one, but I’m sick of not standing up for myself.
Trax’s lips flatten, his fists ball as he lurches forward.
Torque holds him
back from getting to Ace.
“I swear to God, Ace, if you’ve made a move on her, I don’t care if you’re my brother or not, I will hurt you. I will fucking hurt you.”
As Torque holds Trax back, I rush in front of Ace folding my arms over my chest in defiance. “You will not hurt Ace. He has been nothing but my friend since I got here, which is far more than I can say for you.” I point to him. “The man I thought I could lean on, the man I thought I could fucking trust!”
Trax’s body slumps, his face looks shocked. “You can trust me, you know that. Why would you say that?”
Anger boils inside of me as my mind wanders back to Trax coming out of Ruby’s room. I move, pushing past him, trying to get out of the room. But Trax grabs hold of my elbow stopping me. I spin to look at him, my eyes hard and firm, his looking hurt and confused. Ace and Torque stand by watching silently.
“You slept with her while I was here. Then I had to watch you coming out of her room. I know you don’t want to be with me, Konnor, but I don’t need it rubbed in my fucking face how utterly worthless I am to you.” I pull my arm free, racing for the door as Trax lets out a small grunting noise.
Thunderous footsteps stomp behind me as I run out the door and into the clubroom. I bump into Surge who steadies me looking down into my angry eyes as a booming voice calls out my name.
“Mylee, we’re not done talking,” Trax yells out.
My whole body’s shaking with adrenaline as I spin around to see Trax standing in the doorway looking angry as hell. I notice everyone around the room has turned to look at us. Suddenly, everyone’s looking at me, and I’m sure they’re wondering when she’s going to break. I can’t stand it. I’m not that fucking weak, but I am that fucking angry, and I just need to get out of here. I need to get away from Trax as I breathe heavily.
Turning, I rush toward the exit so quickly I feel like I’m running faster than is humanly possible, but the booming sound of his footsteps behind me is unmistakable.
Somehow, I make it outside. The cool hit of air smacks me in the face, but before I have a second to think about where I’m going to go, two giant arms wrap around me from behind taking me in a giant bear hug. I try to fight him off in my temper, but I freeze feeling the warmth of his embrace as I fall back into his hold. I bring my hands up to rest against his forearms as he moves us back to lean against the side of the clubhouse. He says nothing, just holds me tightly, while I breathe in and out attempting to calm down.
He emotionally hurt me.
But somehow he knows how to make me feel better.
I don’t know how, but he did exactly what I needed—he stopped the flow of my thoughts—my inner demons. The ones that take away all my self-confidence, the ones that remind me that even though right now I don’t belong to him, he’s still the one holding me. The simple effort of putting his arms around me, calming me, holding me, makes me feel like I have someone to lean on. Like I have the support I need right at this moment.
I breathe heavily as he leans into my ear and kisses behind it shushing me. “I’m here, Mylee. You’re okay. Just breathe.” I lean back against him closing my eyes and reveling in his warmth. Him holding me is calming the rage that built so quickly inside me. As I breathe slowly in and out at the same time as Trax, I can feel myself warming to him.
I sigh, finally leaning my head against his, and he plants a tender kiss against my ear. I melt into him. He’s breathing heavily as he holds my back to his front. I can feel every muscle. He was always sexy, but I can’t help but wonder if he’s gotten even sexier in the past two years. Toned up even more. His arms have definitely gotten more bulk in them as they hold me to him.
I slowly release my grip on his arms. He reluctantly lets me go. I take a step away from him as he drops his arms, and I turn to face him. My eyes are heavy, my head is pounding.
His eyes appear concerned as I take in his worried expression. “Are you gonna hit me?” His voice is barely above a whisper.
My head shakes once as I let out a small breath. “Thanks for calming my anger, but it’s you who put it there in the first place. You know that, right?”
He grimaces with a nod. “I know… I shouldn’t have let you get to that point where you’re so raging you have to walk away from me.”
Looking away from him, I clench my eyes shut. “You just…” I clench my fists tight and open my eyes again. “You boil my blood with the shit you do to prove a damn point. And I know I wasn’t supposed to be in the chapel, I know that’s a thing, but Ace’s computers were in there and—”
“Stop, Mylee! You think I give a shit about you being in the chapel?”
I raise my brow as he steps forward taking my hand in his. A tingle shoots through my very soul like always when he touches me. “Then what do you care about?”
He tilts his head like he’s shocked I don’t understand. “You… I don’t want you latching onto Ace.”
I jolt my head back in shock. “What the hell do you mean, latching onto Ace?”
He sighs running his hand through his hair. “I mean, I don’t want you to form an attachment to him.”
“But what about if he forms one for me?” I spit out.
He grits his teeth. “That can’t happen, Mylee.”
I scoff. “Oh, why the hell not? Who made you the king of who can and can’t like me?”
He turns away from me, the vein in his neck looking like it’s about to explode at any second from the tension. “I don’t want you hanging out with Ace as much!”
I scoff throwing my hands in the air. “Oh, really? You’re going to pull that crap on me? I don’t think so, not after you had sex with Ruby last night just to rub this ‘friends’ shit in my fucking face, Trax!”
He bursts out laughing, storming up to me, grabbing my shoulders which forces me to look at him. My knees feel weak by the intense stare he’s sending me as I look into his eyes. I melt slightly under his gaze.
“I did not fuck Ruby, Mylee. I stumbled into her room by mistake when I was so drunk trying to get you out of my damn mind. She let me sleep it off… In. Her. Room. You saw two friends this morning, nothing more. You made it into something that wasn’t there.”
I gasp my body almost going numb at the realization.
Trax didn’t sleep with Ruby last night.
He’s fighting the chemistry between us. We’re not friends. We’ll never be just friends.
My eyes water, my heart’s racing as I look right at him, my bottom lip trembling. “Trax, I can’t be your friend… I can’t be here spending every day watching you talk to other women, wondering if you’re with them. It will drive me…” I don’t say the word, but he knows what I mean.
He leans his forehead against mine, both our breaths rapid and heavy. “I know. Seeing you with Ace fucking gutted me. I can’t do this, though, Mylee. I’m no good for you. But you can’t be here and not be with me. I’m not fucking strong enough.”
I sniffle as his hand comes up cupping my face as we stare at each other, so close, our bodies are pressed completely against each other. “What are you saying?”
“I need you,” is all he says before his lips crash to mine. Hard. Unrelenting.
I don’t hesitate to let his tongue slide into my mouth. The moment we connect it’s like everything clicks back into place. The stars align, my mind brightens, fucking fireworks explode as I wrap my arms around his neck needing him as close as humanly possible. I kiss him back, all tongues and teeth. The kiss is frantic, hot, heavy, full of need as he pushes me back against the side of the clubhouse with an oomph. I don’t even care as he pushes his body against mine. In fact, I welcome this more aggressive side of him.
My hands thread through his hair as one hand of his caresses between my hair and my cheek while the other moves to my leg, lifting it up to hook around his waist. I can’t help the small moan escaping my mouth as his obviously hard cock pushes into the seam of my shorts, which then presses against my clit. I’m so hot for him right now as
emotions swirl through me.
I was so angry. At him.
Hurt too.
But it’s all flowing away because of the amount of love I have for him. Right now, all I want is to fuck him. I honestly wouldn’t even care if he took me up against the side of the clubhouse, I’m that needy as he rocks his hips into me making us both moan.
Suddenly a wolf whistle from beside us followed by cackling laughter makes Trax pull back breaking our hot kiss as I pant for breath, remembering we are actually in public. We both turn to see Chains and Lift grinning widely. Trax pulls me from the wall into his arms as he starts to lead us toward the door.
I clear my throat, a blush spreading across my face as I look to Chains and Lift who can’t stop smiling while we walk past them inside. Trax chuckles while shaking his head as he bends down hoisting me over his shoulder. I let out a small scream as Lift and Chains start cheering. I laugh slapping Trax’s toned ass as he rushes us inside then down the hall toward his room.
“You’re a caveman,” I call out as he thrusts open the door leading us inside, shutting the door behind him with his foot. He then slides me down his body, my feet hitting the floor as I let out a little giggle.
“Yeah, but you love it.”
I bring my hand up to his cheek caressing his bearded face. I look into his sparkling eyes and sigh. “Remind me why I shouldn’t have left,” I murmur.
He moves in without hesitation, his hands shifting to the bottom of my tank top. He hoists it up and off me then he chucks it to the floor without a care in the world. His lips move in pressing to my collarbone as his hands snake around my back to unhook my bra, it too falls to the floor, freeing my breasts.
His lips travel down my skin, nipping and sucking as he goes, his fingers sliding down my arms as his mouth circles around my nipple. His teeth sliding against the taut bud, with just enough pressure to make me throw my head back in a moan while I press my chest further into his face.
My hands move in to roam through his mid-length hair. I tug on it slightly, pulling him back up in line with me. The lopsided grin I love greets me, and I lean in pressing my lips to his. I run my hands from his hair down his neck to his shoulders running my fingers under his cut. He lets me as our mouths collide harshly.
