Crash

by Elana Johnson

  “On it.” Lucas hung up and paused at the corner. He had to go right, and the parking lot was left. He turned and looked at Julie, and he didn’t like the anxiety on her face. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.” He wrapped her in his arms, not caring about the public nature of their embrace. He’d never held her like this before, and his skin buzzed and buzzed as her body heat melded into his.

  “I’ll call you tonight,” he said. “Unless it’ll be too late?”

  “Call,” she said, stepping back and smoothing down her scrubs. “If I’m awake, I’ll answer. If not, I won’t.”

  He nodded, wondering what he was getting himself into. The Breathers and the Sentinels already had a rift between them, and just because the turf war had cooled in the past few weeks didn’t mean it was over.

  “I’ll call you later,” he said, making this turn and walking away from her before he said or did something to further embarrass himself. He wanted to keep Julie out of trouble as much of possible, and he couldn’t believe Lawrence had brought danger to his family.

  Maybe he didn’t have a choice, Lucas thought, but he didn’t like thinking nice thoughts when it came to Lawrence Paige.

  He did want to keep seeing Julie, and he hoped the Breathers wouldn’t kill the relationship before it even started.

  Lucas navigated back to Julie’s house on Monday night, constantly scanning for any sign of other motorcycles. It was hard to tell by the tire treads in the frozen snow that seemed to be perpetually stuck to the road in January this far north in Michigan.

  He pulled into her driveway, removed his helmet, and looked around. She lived in a quaint, if a bit upscale, neighborhood where the residents probably didn’t like the loud growl of his bike’s engine.

  But he didn’t see any curtains fluttering, and since the night had already stolen the light from the day, no one was outside either. He couldn’t believe he was outside. It was his and Julie’s first day of working the same shift, and he had to admit some tremors of excitement moved through him as he stepped up to the front door and knocked.

  “Come in!” he heard through the door, and he twisted the unlocked knob and stepped inside. He locked the door behind him, wanting to tell Julie to please, please lock herself in the house when she was here. He didn’t want to lecture her though.

  “I’m almost ready,” she said, rushing out of the hallway that led down to her bedrooms and into the kitchen. “I just can’t find….” She looked around for something, and Lucas moved into the mouth of the hallway.

  When she turned around to go back down the hall, she stopped short. “Oh.”

  “Hey.” He grinned at her lazily, wishing she wasn’t vibrating with nervous energy. He opened his arms, and she stepped into them. Shoeless, she wasn’t nearly as tall as she’d be once she returned wearing boots. He’d warned her not to wear heels or wedges or any of those other types of strappy, heely shoes women wore. She’d said she had a cute pair of heeled boots, and he couldn’t wait to see them.

  She calmed as he enveloped her in his arms, and wow, there was nothing quite as magical as holding Julie Paige. Maybe kissing her, he thought, his face heating instantly. “I’m not in a hurry,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s good to see you.”

  “Mm, you too.”

  “I have a quick request,” he said, pulling back slightly so he could look at her. “Would you lock your door while you’re home? And when you’re not home too.”

  Surprise crossed her face. “Lock my door?”

  “All of them,” he said. “The windows too.”

  Riley barked as if in agreement with Lucas, and he chuckled at the dog.

  “She needs to go out,” Julie said.

  “I’ll do it.” Lucas stepped away from Julie, noting that she hadn’t committed to his request. A slip of foolishness ran through him. He didn’t want to be the over-protective boyfriend, but the Sentinels still knew very little about what Lawrence could be doing for the Breathers. As far as they’d been able to learn through their phone calls to his firm that day, Lawrence worked in tax law, usually for big corporations with a lot of moving parts.

  The Devil’s Breath was a bigger club than the Sentinels, that was true. But they weren’t so big that they needed a tax attorney. Lucas couldn’t wait to talk to Jordan and Electron that night, as Jordan had said he’d talk to his bosses and see if he could learn more about what a tax attorney like Lawrence would do on a day-to-day basis.

  He said, “Come on, Riley,” and stepped toward the back door. The Daniff came with him happily, her tail whipping dangerously. He opened the sliding door—also unlocked—and stepped back out into the winter night.

  The dog rooted around through the snow, took care of her business, and came galloping back to him. She whined as she dropped a once-plush toy at his feet and backed up. He bent and picked up the disgusting toy, tossing it out into the yard.

  Riley ran after it, retrieved it, and brought it back to him, nosing it toward him another couple of inches as if he couldn’t see it. Over and over, he threw the toy, knowing the dog wouldn’t quit until he made her.

  “Ready,” Julie said a few minutes later, and Lucas turned toward her. A chill slid down his arms, and he whistled to the dog.

  Riley preceded him inside, shaking all over as Julie exclaimed about her being too messy to go outside. Lucas just smiled and went down the hall to the first room on the right—Julie’s laundry room. He got a towel and rubbed the dog down, letting Riley lick his face while he laughed.

  He definitely loved dogs, especially big ones, and he wondered if Jordan would let him get one of his own. But Smoky was a handful already, and both Jordan and Lucas worked full-time.

  “She sure does like you,” Julie said.

  “Yep.” Lucas straightened and then bent to wipe her floor.

  “It’s fine,” Julie said. “The cleaning service comes on Tuesdays.”

  “The cleaning service?”

  “I don’t have time,” Julie said. “And I spend all day cleaning up after someone else, so I’m too tired to do my own house.” She beamed up at him. “It’s not as expensive as you think.”

  “Sure,” he said. For someone who didn’t really have disposable income for more than the occasional meal out and forty-four-ounce soda after work, Lucas couldn’t fathom paying someone to sweep and vacuum. “You look nice.” He scanned her tight, black slacks, which she’d tucked into a pair of knee-high leather boots that gleamed in the light. He swallowed at the height of that heel, wondering if she’d be able to navigate the ice and snow on the sidewalks.

  He kind of hoped she wouldn’t. Then she’d have to hold onto him for help.

  “Thanks,” she said with a smile. “And you always look like a million bucks in that leather jacket.” She stepped into him again, and Lucas easily took her into his arms. It felt like it would be the most natural thing in the world for him to lean down and kiss her.

  Right now.

  His heart thumped and leapt and jumped in his chest. He’d thought about kissing Julie, of course. Just a few minutes ago actually. They’d defined the relationship over the weekend. He was her boyfriend, for crying out loud.

  He leaned down, and she pressed closer to him, her eyes closing. Lucas let his close too, hoping he could land this thing without making too big of a fool of himself.

  His lips touched hers, and everything male inside him knew exactly what to do next. And he did it as an explosion moved through his body, kissing her and kneading her closer and closer and closer as she kissed him back.

  Chapter Seven

  Julie fought for control of the kiss, not really wanting it. Being kissed by Lucas was almost an out-of-body experience, and she wanted him to slow down and speed up at the same time.

  He’d started out fairly fast—almost aggressive—and he slowed the kiss after a few seconds. Julie held on to every moment, wishing she could separate them out into individual units of time.

  He broke the kiss, drew in a breath, and move
d his lips to her throat. Julie sucked at the air too, holding on for dear life now. Good thing his shoulders were so broad and so easy to grasp.

  A growl moved through his chest, and he pulled back. Her eyes came open and met his, and passion and fire and desire lived there. He also possessed an edge of something softer, and Julie now knew what she’d always suspected—Lucas Miner, the tough, tattooed, bearded motorcycle club member, was really just a big teddy bear.

  A teddy bear who sure knew how to kiss a woman.

  He cleared his throat and took a small step backward, almost tossing Julie onto the floor. She could barely stand on her own, but she adjusted her feet and found her balance before his hands slid away from her body.

  “We should go,” he said, his voice ragged and husky and filled with the same things she’d seen in his eyes.

  “I thought you weren’t in a hurry,” she teased.

  “I’m not,” he said. “Not for dinner, and not for….” He cleared his throat again, and Julie couldn’t believe that she made him nervous. Nothing made this giant of a man nervous. “That.”

  Julie wasn’t either, and she tucked her hair behind her ear, realizing it was mussed up. She hadn’t even felt Lucas’s hands in her hair, and she vowed to pay attention to that next time. As if on cue, her scalp prickled, and she gave a little shiver.

  “I’ll lock the doors,” she said, stepping to the back door and then the one that led into the garage. With both of them secure, she shrugged into her winter coat, looped her scarf around her neck, and then picked up the leather jacket that had come that day.

  “What is that?” Lucas asked as she put it on.

  “My new jacket,” she said, beaming at him. “Do you like it?”

  “In the summer, it’ll be too big.” He reached over and helped her with the collar that was flipped under.

  “I’ll get another one then,” she said. “It’s too cold not to wear a coat under this thing. It’s like rubber and no insulation.”

  Lucas said nothing, those dark eyes devouring her all over again. Once her jacket was zipped, he took her hand and led her out the front door, commanding Riley to stay. The dog did just what he said, and Julie knew the feeling. If Lucas said jump, she’d ask him how high. After all, that kiss…she needed that kiss in her life.

  He held her securely as they went down her front steps and sidewalk. He got on the motorcycle first and held it steady for her. She gripped those shoulders as she settled behind him and found the right spot for her boots.

  “Set?” he asked.

  “I think so,” she said, accepting the helmet from him as he handed it over his shoulder. He took several moments to put his own helmet on, and a subtle, slow warmth started beneath her.

  “Does this thing have heated seats?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he said. “And the helmet warms too. Press the button on the right side.”

  Julie fumbled around on the right side of her helmet, finally feeling a little divot she could push. She did, and a red light flashed in her peripheral vision. Not ten seconds later, the same gentle heat enveloped her head.

  No wonder Lucas didn’t need a big puffy coat. She wrapped her arms around him, a pleasant heat moving through her as he started walking with the bike. “Hold on,” he said, but it wasn’t her first time riding with him.

  She hoped it wouldn’t be her last. Her life had been one boring shift after another for so long. Day after day, month after month. Lucas was something new, and exciting, and different. So passionate, and full of mystery. She wanted to know everything about him, and she wanted to tell him everything about her.

  Go slow, she told herself. Don’t blurt out everything.

  And if she could manage that, it would be a miracle.

  Lucas handled his bike brilliantly, and when he pulled up to a hip bistro on the south side of town, Julie almost wished the ride wasn’t over. He parked near the entrance, and he waited for her to get off.

  Up the sidewalk, through the doors, and to a booth along the back wall, Julie kept looking around like someone would care that she was with Lucas Miner. Surely all the other women would be so jealous. But no one looked their way, and Julie started to come down out of the clouds.

  “They have Caprese here,” he said as the hostess handed them menus and walked away.

  Julie looked at him, surprise moving through her. She’d told him she loved Caprese salad weeks ago, at the Christmas dinner with his friends. And he’d remembered.

  Her previous boyfriends couldn’t even remember big things, like her birthday or what time she got off work. Heck, Josiah had complained that he couldn’t remember what floor she worked on and always went to five instead of three. Like it was so hard to remember where his girlfriend spent the majority of her time.

  Lucas smiled and looked at the menu. “I’ve only been here once, but the braised beef was great.”

  Julie looked at her menu too, realizing this food would be great. And it was expensive. A tremor of unease moved through her. She was fine with a fast-food burger, and she wasn’t sure Lucas could afford this.

  She wasn’t going to say anything though. The man made his own choices, that was for sure. She just didn’t want him to think he had to bring her to fancy places like this.

  He’d called her a couple of nights ago, just like he’d promised. He’d explained more about his club and what they did, as well as the Devil’s Breath. But Julie wanted to know more.

  “So you’re the Road Captain,” she said, and that brought him out of the menu.

  “That’s right.” He spoke in a slightly higher, more airy voice, and that meant he didn’t want to talk about this at all.

  “I want to know everything that would impact me,” she said, not for the first time. He’d told her that the Devil’s Breath was an outlaw club, likely moving dirty money and drugs across the US-Canadian border. They came into Forbidden Lake on Wednesdays, but he hadn’t said more than that.

  He’d said they were the reason everyone thought men like him were criminals or dangerous. Maybe Julie was just attracted to the bad boy. The more she thought about it, the more she knew there was no maybe about it. She’d always liked the guy with an edge, the one in the leather jacket leaning against the back wall of the club, watching everyone else.

  She’d tried the boy-next-door route, and he’d broken her heart too. In fact, in Julie’s opinion, if things didn’t work out with Lucas, she was done dating forever.

  Lucas put his menu down and placed his soda order with the overeager waitress who’d arrived. Julie looked at her too and ordered her diet cola with a lot of lemon. As soon as she’d left, Julie leaned toward Lucas. “Lucas,” she said.

  She didn’t need to say more. That storm in his eyes said he’d be speaking soon enough. He just took several seconds to formulate what he needed or wanted to say. “The Devil’s Breath robbed the grocery store a couple of months ago, and in order to keep the peace between our two clubs, we let them come into town on Wednesday nights. We watch them, but we’re still not sure what they’re doing.” He took a breath and his eyes downright sliced through her. “We do know your brother is working for them.”

  “No,” Julie said, shaking her head. “I don’t believe that.”

  “Not willingly,” he said. “But Jules, he is. That’s what his message on your phone said.”

  Julie didn’t need to pull out her phone and look at Lawrence’s words. She’d stared at them so many times, she had them imprinted on the backs of her eyelids.

  I’m doing legal

  “He’s a tax lawyer,” Julie said.

  “What does he do in his firm?”

  “I have no idea,” Julie said. “Some boring law stuff.”

  “Well, it’s gotten more interesting in the past six months, hasn’t it?” Lucas leaned away from her as the waitress arrived with their drinks. Julie wanted to snipe at him that he didn’t know what he was talking about. Her brother was not a member of an outlaw motorcycle club. At the same
time, the quiet parts of her mind that nagged her in the moments before she went to sleep had already told her what he was saying right now. Lawrence had definitely gotten involved with the Devil’s Breath at some point, whether willingly or not.

  “I’ll have the braised beef,” Lawrence said, looking at Julie.

  She hadn’t one-hundred percent decided, and she dove into the menu again. “Uh…I’ll have the stuffed pork chop,” she said. “And I’d like the Caprese salad too, extra balsamic.”

  “You got it.” The woman didn’t take any notes but just smiled as she walked away.

  Julie tried not to look at Lawrence, but the effort was wasted. He was magnetic, and she wanted him to keep talking. “What do you think he’s doing?”

  “We don’t know,” Lucas said. “Jordan is a paralegal, and he’s talking to his boss. Mav called your brother’s office today. We’re working on figuring it out.”

  “And then?”

  “And then, I don’t know,” he said. “Situations like this are unpredictable.” His jaw jumped, and Julie may have just kissed him a half an hour ago, but she knew that tell.

  “What else do you have to say?” she asked.

  He didn’t look happy, and that only increased Julie’s nervousness. “There’s a little thing that could happen,” he said.

  “Keep talking.”

  “In motorcycle clubs, we sometimes lay claim to things. Territory…people.”

  Julie’s heart grew ten sizes and then shrank back to normal, all in the space of two seconds. She felt like she was falling for a moment, a wave of warmth moving through her chest. “People aren’t things,” she said.

  “Yeah, I know that,” he said. “It’s our culture though, and it’s possible—though there’s no way for anyone to know—that they might claim you.”

  Julie’s eyebrows went up, and her pulse crashed through her veins now. “Me?”

  “Yeah, because you’re Lawrence’s sister, and if he threatens them at all, they’ll do what they have to in order to make him comply.” He leaned toward her, barely taking a breath before speaking again. “They’re not like us, Jules. They’re outlaws, and they have no rules when it comes to how they do business. They have a culture like ours, because all clubs respect the MC culture.”