by April Lust
She glanced to the side and Ryan gave her a thumbs up. She gave him a slight, careful wave. Letting go of Ethan while they were riding still made her nervous.
It was really fun to ride in a pack like this, though. The Angel’s Keepers moved smoothly through the traffic, not holding anyone up or endangering anyone. Just another thing her father had been wrong about.
No matter how much fun the ride was, by the time they pulled up at the Valley of Fire, Amelia was more than ready to stretch for a bit. Ethan handed her a bottle of water after she’d tugged her helmet off.
“Go and take a rest while we get everything unloaded,” he said, pointing to a shaded picnic table. “That’s our site.”
“I can help,” she offered.
“Yeah and you can take a rest, too.” He swept his thumb down the curve of her cheek. “I know it was a long ride.”
She glanced down. “I don’t know why I’m so tired. All I did was sit.”
Ethan put his arm around her shoulders and steered her to the picnic table. “It takes some getting used to. What did you think, though? Did you like it?”
She looked up at him. “I loved it,” she said, happy she could be honest about that. She’d been afraid that she wouldn’t like it, but the freedom and the sound of the wind were downright addictive. His smile at her answer had her heart skipping several beats.
“I’m glad,” he said simply. “Sit down and drink that water. Once you feel better, you can help set up.”
Amelia watched as the rest of The Angel’s Keepers arrived, unpacking their saddlebags and calling a combination of helpful advice and friendly insults to each other. Ryan helped Taylor get his tent set up while Kenny walked over to the grill at the site and lit a fire.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
Amelia glanced up at the sound of the voice and saw a pretty brunette standing in front of her. “Hi,” she answered. “Um, good, I guess.”
The brunette smiled. “You don’t have to look so freaked out. I promise I won’t bite,” she said with a short laugh. “I’m Penelope Maxwell, Taylor’s girlfriend.”
“It’s not nice meet you, I’m Amelia Stratton.” She gestured to the bench in front of her and said, “Please, have a seat.”
The other woman slung her leg over the bench and pulled a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of her riding pants. “You smoke?” she asked, pausing before lighting one of the slim white cigarettes.
Amelia shook her head. “No, but you go ahead.” There was a strong breeze blowing through the canyon. It would sweep the smoke away with no problem.
Penelope tossed the pack down onto the table between them and took a drag of the one she’d just lit. “Don’t tell Ethan I’m doing this,” she said. “He’d have my head.”
“Why?” A few of the guys walking around were smoking too. Amelia didn't really see the difference between lung cancer for them and lung cancer for Penelope.
“Because you’re knocked up,” the other woman said matter of factly. “But he’s across the site looking at Buddy’s bike and it’s been a long damn ride, so I’m going to take the chance.”
Amelia’s eyes widened. “Wait. What? Because I’m what?”
Penelope exhaled a thin stream of smoke and shook her head. “First thing you’ve gotta know is that there areno secrets in a motorcycle club. From the minute Ethan told the officers, it’s been circulating through. Everyone knows by now.”
Amelia blinked, trying to figure out how she felt about the news that everyone in the whole club knew she was carrying Ethan’s baby. Hardly anyone she knew was aware of the pregnancy and she wished Ethan had told her that he was going to tell the club.
Penelope looked closely at her. “Don’t get worked up,” she advised. “William’s the only one that really hated it. The other guys are happy to wait and see.”
“Wait and see what, exactly?”
Penelope shrugged casually. “What kind of person you are. Whether you’ll fit in. Your father’s a dick. You might be one, too.”
“I’m not,” Amelia said, her tone frosty now. “He and I don’t hold the same ideals.”
“Fancy political talk won’t get you too far,” Penelope said. “And I’m not trying to piss you off; I’m just telling you like it is. You’ll need to get used to it if you’re gonna hang around.”
Amelia looked down at her hands. The other woman smoked in silence.
“Okay,” Amelia said after a moment of thought. “Then you’ll need to get used to the fact that all of this is new to me. I don’t know anyone here except for Ethan. I’m getting used to things, too.”
“Fair enough,” Penelope said. “Hey, look. Kenny’s starting to grill.” She huffed out a laugh. “He’s actually wearing a damn apron. Wonder who he lost a bet with?”
Amelia glanced over and saw a stocky man with an extremely pink, extremely ruffled apron wrapped around his waist. He was laying steaks on one of the grills at the site. She clapped a hand over her mouth as another man walked up behind him and jammed a matching pink chef’s hat down onto Kenny’s head and over his eyes.
“That’s Taylor,” Penelope said with a laugh. “My guy’s so mature.”
Taylor ran away as fast as he could while Kenny swore and tugged at the hat. It appeared to be stuck. Kenny had a surprisingly varied vocabulary and it rang across the site, even over everyone’s laughter.
“Don’t take the bet if you’re not ready to lose,” Ethan called once Kenny had managed to pry the hat off.
“You wanna wear the hat or you wanna shut up and let me cook?” Kenny called back.
“Burn my steak and you’re out on your ass,” Ethan returned.
“Big kids. All of ‘em.” Penelope said, lighting another cigarette with the end of the first one.
“How long have you and Taylor been together?” Amelia asked. With the tension between the two of them broken, she wanted to continue in a friendly vein of conversation.
“Not long,” Penelope said. “Just about three months, officially. This is only the second ride I’ve been on with him.”
“Oh, really?” Amelia looked at the other woman. The boots and the jacket and the riding pants looked worn in; she hadn’t expected to hear that this was only her second ride. “You don’t seem like you’re new to all of this.”
“Oh, no, I’m not,” the other woman said, still watching Taylor, who was sneaking back over to Kenny, clearly aiming for the hat that was now on the ground. “I’ve been dating bikers since I was old enough to sneak out of my bedroom window. So, since I was fourteen, if you’re counting.”
“I used to sneak out, too,” Amelia said.
“Oh yeah?” Penelope turned to look at her. “That’s unexpected. Were you fucking bikers, too?”
“No,” Amelia said quickly. “I mean, not ‘til Ethan. Mostly, I was just getting away. Sometimes I’d go out drinking. But a lot of the time, I’d go to my friend Aubrey’s house and hang out with her and her family. Or I’d just go out for a walk. Basically, I went anywhere that my dad wasn’t.”
Penelope nodded. “I know how that feels. For me, it was my mom, though. She was always on my case about something.”
“Get better grades,” Amelia said.
“Don’t wear your skirt so damn short,” Penelope added.
“Remember his name, he’ll be important later on.”
“Get that mascara off, you look like a whore.”
“Hey, I got that one from my dad, too!” Amelia exclaimed.
Penelope grinned. “Yeah? Guess there’s not as much of a class difference as I thought between the rich and the poor.”
“Our parents would probably get along well,” Amelia agreed. “Maybe we should set them up.”
Penelope laughed, but there was a slight tinge of bitterness to it. “That would involve talking to her and I’m not ready for that, even if it would mean I was rich by proxy.”
“You two don’t speak at all?”
Penelope shook her head. “Not since
I turned eighteen. Do you talk to your father now that you’re with Ethan?”
Amelia paused. “No. Not really.” But she hadn’t really planned for that to be a permanent thing. Although...when had Gregory Stratton ever changed his mind about anything? Had walking out with Ethan really severed that relationship completely? The thought was unnerving.
“Just from personal experience, I wouldn’t expect that to change,” Penelope said. “I guess you miss your friends, since you’ve been hanging out with the likes of us for so long.”
Amelia paused and then shook her head, realizing she hadn’t thought about Lauren or any of the other women she would have causally called her friends a few months ago. “No, not really. It’s mostly just political gossip and talking about whose dress cost the most or looks the worst.”
“You sure as hell won’t hear about that around here,” Penelope said with a chuckle. “I work retail and I’m usually a combination of K-Mart and Goodwill, which I make look hot as hell. And the only political gossip I know is that Ethan Billings knocked up Representative Stratton’s daughter. But I’m guessing you know that.”
Amelia nodded seriously. “I’d heard something about it, yes.”
Penelope leaned in, her dark brown eyes dancing mischievously. “And who the hell could blame her when he looks like that?”
Amelia looked over to where Ethan was putting up their tent. When he bent over to grab a tent pole and his jeans hugged his ass, both of them sighed. He really was incredibly hot. Amelia felt her whole body flush at the memories of what that muscular body could do.
“If news travels that fast in the club, maybe--”
“I shouldn’t be ogling your guy with Taylor right over there?” Penelope finished, picking up Amelia’s train of thought with no problem. “I like to live dangerously. And you’ll have to get used to that, too. Every girl I know gives Ethan the longing looks. Especially since he used to play so damn easy to get.”
Amelia’s gaze snapped back to Penelope. “Did he?” she asked, trying to sound casual.
“No reason why he shouldn’t,” the other woman said easily. “Don’t get freaked out about it. He’s with you now, isn’t he?”
Well, she wasn’t sure about that. She didn’t want to get into it with Penelope, though. She went for a diversionary tactic. “What are you, some kind of a mind reader?”
“Nope, just a decent poker player. You wouldn’t be. I’m just saying.”
“You’re not the first person to tell me that,” Amelia said, remembering Ethan’s words of a few weeks back.
Ethan turned around. Penelope tossed her cigarette away quickly and Amelia gave him a wave. He finished with the tent and then walked over to them.
“Ready to come and help me unpack?” he asked.
“Okay, but what are you going to do for me?” Penelope asked with a grin.
“I won’t tell you off for smoking in front of my girl.”
She rolled her eyes. “Told you,” she said to Amelia. “Once you get your set up done, come hang out at our tent. We can eat together.”
“That sounds great,” Amelia said.
Penelope jogged over to Taylor and he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side. She snuggled against him with a smile.
“She’s a real handful,” Ethan remarked.
“I liked her,” Amelia said, surprised to find that she was telling him the truth.
“Oh, I like her just fine,” Ethan agreed, pulling the bag off the back of the bike. “Doesn’t change the fact that she’s a handful. Come on in and help me get this air mattress set up.”
Amelia ducked into the tent with Ethan and began to unfold the air mattress he’d bought earlier. “She says she always dates bikers.”And that you’re easy to get.
“Yeah, I guess she does,” Ethan agreed absently, digging through the bag for the sheets as the mattress expanded.
“Have the two of you ever...you know...dated?”Have you had sex with her?
“Nah,” he answered. “Taylor’s had his eye on her for a while now. Going after her would have been against the code.”
So he hadn’t had sex with her. He hadn’t said that she wasn’t his type, though. Amelia chewed her lip, wondering whether or not to pursue that. In the end, she decided not to. Not now, anyway.
“There’s a code?” she asked instead.
“Yep. Rule number one: don’t go for the girl if your buddy’s been there or if he’s aiming to go.”
“Simple enough, I guess.”
“Solves a lot of problems,” Ethan said. “Here.” He tossed the bundle of sheets her way.
“I told you you should have folded them,” Amelia said, vindicated.
“Grab an end and we’ll get ‘em straightened out.”
“Why did it take him so long?” she asked.
“Who? To what?” He frowned at the sheets and tried to smooth out some of the wrinkles. “Oh, for Taylor to get Penelope? Because she used to go for bad boys. He doesn’t really fit the bill.”
Amelia raised an eyebrow. “The bike and the leather aren’t enough?”
“Did you see him with the hat?” Ethan asked. “No, the bike and the leather weren’t enough. But she’s come around, I think. Getting clean helped. That fact that he doesn’t smack her around helps, too.”
“I would think so,” Amelia agreed.
“You don’t seem as surprised as I thought you would,” Ethan said, giving up on the sheets and sitting back and eyeing her.
“At what? Someone hitting her? Do you really think rich men don’t hit their wives?”
“Good point, I guess.” Ethan’s brows knitted together thoughtfully. “Never really thought about it. Anybody ever do anything like that to you?”
“No,” Amelia replied, smoothing the sheets over the air mattress. “My father tends to stick with what works, which is moral intimidation. And you’re the first...” she trailed off, still unsure of what to call him.
“And I’m sure as hell not about to tune you up,” he said seriously.
She smiled. “I know that.” That, at least, she was confident in. She had no idea if he loved her, but at least she was safe with him.
He reached over, tracing his thumb down her cheek. When she looked up at him he buried his other hand in her soft hair. “Amelia,” he said, his voice low. “I-”
Several motorcycles revved loudly, making her jump. She heard Taylor call a hello to Jimmy. Ethan eased back and she returned to smoothing the sheets.
“Wanting you gets in the way,” he said as he shook out a blanket. “I keep meaning to talk to you and I keep wanting to take you to bed instead.”
There was the honesty they’d promised each other. Amelia’s cheeks heated up at his blunt words and the desire in those dark blue eyes.
“I’ve missed you at night,” she admitted.
“Good. I want you to miss me like I miss you,” he said roughly.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“What?” he asked. “I was trying to make you feel better! What’s wrong?”
“I do miss you,” she whispered. “I miss you so much. And it feels like we’re never going to get into that comfort zone with each other. And if don’t then all of this...” Amelia swung her hand, gesturing at both of them. “It’s all just going to fall apart and...” She couldn’t go on, not without the desire to sob getting the better of her. She caught her breath rapidly.
Ethan pulled her against him, disarranging the sheets and blankets she’d just straightened, pulling her into his lap. “I know, baby,” he said against her hair. The thought of losing her sent his pulse racing. “That’s why I brought you out here with me. I want us to talk. Without all the distractions and the bullshit.”
She nodded against his chest. His t-shirt was wet with her tears. “Okay. We’ll do that honesty thing.”
He tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. “Sounds good to me. Amelia...I meant what I said. I want to marry you.”
He
r heart jerked, skipping several beats.
“We’re having a kid together,” he went on. “I want this to work.”
She eased back, away from the heat of his body, away from the distracting desire. “I want it to work, too,” she agreed. But not for exactly the same reasons, apparently.
Chapter 23
Ethan
