The parking lot was full of vehicles, but all of them were empty. “Never been fucked in public?” I growled, kissing the tip of her nose. “You don’t know what you’re missing.” I gave her soft lips a peck, burying my hands in her silky hair.
A shiver went through her when I moved my mouth to the pulse in her throat. “I thought we came here to eat,” she breathed, offering me her neck.
My gut told me that I could go as far as I wanted with Daisy, that her mild protest was just that. It was her way of trying to be the sensible one. I grinned, running my mouth along her fragrant skin, sucking and nibbling my way to madness. I hadn’t meant for anything sexual to happen. I’d just wanted to make her feel good, to wash away the bad memories and replace them with better ones. But the feel of her hot core against my loins had caused my dick to turn hard as fucking steel. I groaned deep, finally claiming her soft lips for a long, needy kiss. She instantly opened her mouth for my probing tongue.
It didn’t take long for the windows to fog. A door slammed somewhere close, and we broke apart. Daisy’s belly grumbled with hunger again, as if to remind us why we were there. “Come on, babe, let’s go eat.”
I opened the door and stepped out, pulling her with me and setting her on her feet. Once inside, we found a booth close to a window. We’d barely sat down when one of the waitresses rushed over with two menus.
“Hi, Big John.” Her smile of welcome went from ear to ear, and there was a sparkle of eagerness in her eyes that I’d seen before. The girl was obvious in her attempt to snag a brother, any brother, and therefore came on to any one of us who stopped in for a meal. She was young and cute, and her tight uniform showcased her large tits and small waist. The trouble was, she was jailbait, and we all avoided her like the plague.
“Coffee?” She set the menus down.
“Two,” I said, holding up my fingers. She gave me a wink and spun around to go back in the direction of the kitchen. Daisy opened her menu and I put my hand over hers to get her attention. “You like omelets?” She nodded. “Willy makes a good spinach and mushroom omelet.”
“That sounds good.” She closed her menu. “You come here often?”
“Once in a while, I like their breakfast. So, what’s your ex’s name?” I asked casually, settling my arm over the back of the booth.
Her expression revealed that I hadn’t fooled her. “Oh, no, Big John. I’m done talking about me. It’s your turn.” She crossed her arms.
I shrugged. “What do you want to know?”
“Have you ever been married?”
“Fuck no! I’m not the marrying kind, baby. No girlfriends, sweethearts, no kids. I like my life just the way it is.” Who was I trying to convince?
She frowned at that. “So what am I to you?” she asked point blank. “I know what we’re doing, but what are we? Friends with benefits? Kissing cousins? Casual fuck buddies?”
I leaned over the table and said in a low voice, “We’ll never be friends, babe. And I wouldn’t touch you with a ten-foot pole if we were related. Casual fuck buddies? We fuck, but there’s nothing casual about it.” I could tell that my words were affecting her when her cheeks colored and the green of her eyes turned smoky, but when her pretty mouth parted and she ran her tongue over her lips, I was the one undone.
I sat back as the waitress had returned with our coffees, but I didn’t take my eyes off Daisy. “We’ll each have the spinach and mushroom omelet,” I ordered without looking at her. My lips quirked when I heard her huff as she turned away.
Daisy must have heard her indignant huff at being ignored, too. “Isn’t she a little young for you?”
“She’s jailbait, and I haven’t touched her.”
Her gaze followed the waitress. “She doesn’t look like jailbait.” She began to fix her coffee. “What about your family, do you have anyone?”
I set my cup down after taking a cautious sip. “I did, once. A drunk driver took them away from me.”
“Oh, Big John, I’m so sorry.” There was genuine sadness in her eyes.
I shrugged. “It was a long time ago. I got over it.” I knew that I sounded like a hard, uncaring prick, but I didn’t want Daisy’s sympathy. I couldn’t stand for her to look at me with sorrow and pity in her eyes. The fact is that I had got over it. It didn’t mean that I didn’t miss my parents and younger brother every fucking day of my life, though.
“So you’ve been all alone since?”
“Nope. I have my club, my brothers. Their families are my family.”
“That doesn’t keep your bed warm at night,” she said mistakenly, catching her blunder as soon as the words came out of her mouth.
I gave her a crooked grin. “I’ve never had to worry about a cold bed, baby. There’s always a willing female around who wants to get laid by a bad ass biker.”
“I bet.”
The waitress returned, setting a plate down in front of each of us. “Can I get you anything else?” Her question was meant for both of us, but I was the one she was staring at.
“I think we’re good for now.”
“I’ll check back later,” she responded, her tone still a little bitchy.
I ignored her and watched Daisy take a first bite.
“Oh, my goodness, this is really good!”
“I’m glad you like it. Willy makes it with smoked gouda.” I shoveled in a mouthful, looking around us as I chewed. When my gaze landed on two bikers who were sitting in a booth across the room from us, it hit me that I’d been too wrapped up in Daisy to notice them before. I was fucking sure that they hadn’t been sitting there when we’d entered the diner. I didn’t know who they were, but I knew their club.
The Sentinels were good guys. I’d heard of them, they were a neighborhood watch kind of club that patrolled the streets and neighborhoods of their town after dark. Chapters were springing up all over the country. They worked on the side of the law, most of the time. They were a long way away from home. One of them glanced over and gave me a chin lift. I returned it and went back to eating. I had no problem with them being in Solon.
“Are those dudes part of Phantom Riders?”
She must have seen the exchange. I couldn’t help smirking as I took a drink of coffee. It amused me to hear her refer to them as ‘dudes.’ I shook my head. “No, they’re Sentinels. Just passing through.”
She stared over at them. The smile that came over her pretty face made me turn my gaze in their direction. Both bikers were smiling back at her.
“Babe?”
“What?” she pulled her gaze from them and returned it to mine.
“Not a good idea, flirting with them. I’d hate to have to pound their asses into the ground for looking at my woman.”
Her smile disappeared, and I realized that it wasn’t the first time I’d said she was my woman. I’d stepped over the line again and could have kicked myself for doing so. I waited for Daisy to say something about my slip, but she went back to eating her omelet. I’d finished mine and was on my second cup of coffee, watching as the place gradually emptied out from the breakfast crowd. Willy was behind the counter, saw me and gave a wave with his spatula. I gave him a chin lift and a grin. He eyed Daisy, and I could imagine what he was thinking. I’d never brought a woman in with me before. He motioned me over.
I scooted out of the booth, shifting my gaze back and forth from Daisy to the two Sentinels. It was a purely alpha move when I curled my hand around the back of her neck, bent, and closed my mouth over hers. I wanted to make sure that anyone that was looking knew that she was mine. When she returned my kiss with all the enthusiasm I’d come to expect from her, my dick jerked.
When I pulled back I smiled at the dazed confusion in her pretty eyes. “Be right back, babe.” I didn’t give her a chance to comment.
“Willy,” I acknowledged when I reached the counter. He was an ancient, grizzled, old coot that had owned and run Willy’s Diner for the last forty years. He looked like a pirate with his long, gray hair and beard,
and the eye he’d lost in the war that was covered with a black patch. He wore the same fucking thing every day, clothes that were stained and yellowish, beneath an apron that looked even worse.
“Hey, Big John.” He motioned toward Daisy. “Never thought I’d see the day when you brought in a woman. She your gal?”
I leaned against the counter. “You could say that.” His waitresses were rushing to clear off the tables, bringing tall stacks of dishes and depositing them on the counter. “We’re still deciding that.”
He snorted. “She’s purty. Nice−”
“Watch it old man.”
“I was gonna say hair.” He sounded offended.
Daisy slid from the booth and walked our way. I let my gaze drop down her body, liking the way her sweater conformed to her big tits and smaller waist. Some of her jet-black hair fell over one tit, almost to her waist. She was fucking gorgeous with her rosy cheeks and sparkling emerald eyes.
“Where you going?”
“To the ladies’ room.” She pointed to the sign. As she walked by me I followed her sexy ass with my eyes.
“You hit the jackpot with that one.”
I couldn’t agree more with Willy. I was on my way back to the table when the door to the diner flew open, and two men rushed inside, guns drawn and yelling “Hands up in the air,” and “No one move!” I slowly complied, scrutinizing them for any weaknesses. They were twitching, and I could tell the instant that I looked into their red-rimmed eyes that they were both high on something. That made them unpredictable and dangerous.
One man pointed his gun directly at me, his hand shaking badly. “Back up!” he screamed. His partner was rounding up Willy and the waitresses who were frozen in place behind the counter and making them come to the front with the rest of us. I backed up slowly toward the booth where the Sentinels were sitting, hoping that it gave them enough cover to reach for their own weapons and end this shit.
And then I thought about Daisy in the bathroom. Fuck! This wasn’t going to end well.
Chapter 21
Daisy
I had just exited the bathroom at the diner when all hell broke loose. I came to a jerking halt in the shadows of the dark hallway, watching the chaos unfold as two gun-toting men entered the diner screaming that they would shoot if anyone moved. It was like a bad scene from a movie. The first thought that crossed my mind was that this was a robbery. They weren’t wearing masks, but what else could it be? My heart jumped when I realized the position I was in. I watched as the cook and waitresses were forced around the counter to where the customers sat, but there was a wall preventing me from seeing what else was going on.
“I said no one fucking move!” one of the men yelled, and I wondered who he was screaming at.
“You told me to back up, man.”
Oh, God, it was Big John! Fear for him turned my blood cold. These guys seemed unstable, nervous, I could hear it in the tone of the man who’d spoken. The one that I could see was twitching. He was the one who went behind the counter to where the register was located. He hit it in several places, but when it didn’t open he looked up and yelled, “How the fuck do you get this thing open?” He continued pushing buttons. “You, old man, get back here!”
“You think I’m gonna help you rob my own restaurant? Fuck you!”
“Get back here!” the robber screamed, waving his gun. “Or we start shooting!”
“Better do as he says, Willy.” That was Big John again. “They might actually hit something.”
Why was he taunting them?
“Shut up!” the unseen robber ordered. “Get back!” Had Big John made a move toward him? The next thing I heard was a shot, followed by screams.
I screamed, and then reacted without thinking, rushing down the hallway toward the commotion, afraid of what I would see on the other side of the wall. If something had happened to Big John…my heart was in my throat. Everything happened so fast after that. I had time to see Big John draw a gun that I hadn’t known he had on him, and the two Sentinels leave their booth. The waitresses and few customers who were still there dashed for cover, but there was nowhere for them to go.
One of the robbers was on the floor, out cold. My eyes flew to Big John and connected with his, seeing the rage in his eyes. “Daisy, move!”
I’d forgotten about the other robber, and by the time I realized that he was behind me it was too late. A skinny arm slithered around my waist and I was jerked sharply back against a bony body. The stink of unwashed clothes and body odor made me gag. It didn’t matter that I probably outweighed him, the fear and adrenaline that was pumping through his blood had made him freakishly strong.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Big John, even though his focus was on the man behind me. I drew strength from his larger than life presence, knowing that he’d get me out of the situation I’d found myself in, and that everything would be okay.
“Stay back or she dies!” the robber threatened, using me as a shield against the three guns that were aimed his way. I could feel him trembling against me, probably from a combination of drugs and fear, and from the realization that he was in a bad position. Suddenly I had the barrel of a gun against my temple.
I hated the position that I was in and cursed myself for my stupidity. I should have remained hidden, but my fear that Big John had been hurt had overshadowed my common sense. I was nothing to the Sentinels, their expressions remained passive as they calmly waited to make their move, but Big John was beyond furious. His dark eyes looked like cut glass, and his expression was darkly menacing. A muscle twitching in his square jaw revealed that he was barely holding on to his control.
“You just made the biggest fucking mistake of your life,” Big John grumbled threateningly. He kept his eyes on the man that was holding me.
The man behind me sniffed as if he had a cold. “Looks like I’m the one with leverage,” he said bravely, his voice slightly slurred. “Brody!” he yelled, in an attempt to wake up his partner.
Big John snorted. “Won’t do any good, I broke his fucking neck.”
I could feel the man behind me stiffen, his gun hand was shaking, and intuition warned me that he was not going to react well to that news. He was backed up into a corner, and right now I was his only way out of there. He began to drag me toward the door, and I knew that I had to do something. It was obvious that Big John and the Sentinels weren’t firing because they didn’t want to take a chance that I’d get hit. There was only one thing I could do, and I prayed that it didn’t backfire on me. I went completely limp, my dead weight too much for the robber to hold. Before I knew it, I was slipping through his arm.
Before I hit the floor, a shot rang out and the robber flew backwards, slamming against the entrance door. Big John reached me before I could get to my feet again, wrapping a strong arm around me.
“Fuck, babe, you took a risk doing that.” He slipped his gun behind him, into the waistband of his pants. “You okay?”
I nodded, beginning to shake. “Yes.” I glanced past him to the two Sentinels. “Thank you.” I wasn’t sure what they’d done to help, but just the fact they’d been behind Big John, ready to make a move, was enough. I watched them holster their weapons.
He shot a quick glance at them. “Thanks for the backup, I owe you.” Sirens were heard coming in the distance. “You might want to get the fuck out of here.”
“I think we’ll take you up on that,” one of them said. They both left without another word.
“Won’t the police want to question them?” I saw his lips quirk above me. “Question who? They weren’t even here.” Oh. “Jesus, fuck, babe. When I heard you scream and then run into the room, I almost had a fucking heart attack.”
“I thought you’d been shot.” Crap, I could feel my eyes tearing up.
Willy walked over to the robber by the door and gave him a kick. “Bastard,” he groused. He moved behind the counter. His waitresses were still too shell-shocked to move, a couple of them sinking onto a ch
air. The few customers began to relax when they realized that the threat was over. The fact that there were police cars with flashing lights rushing into the parking lot probably helped. One cruiser pulled right up to the front door, all but blocking it.
Several police charged into the diner, guns drawn and on full alert. Their gazes seemed to take everything in at once.
“Someone called in a shooting,” one of them said, looking down at the body next to his feet. His eyes shot up toward Willy. “What happened, Willy?”
Another cop moved around the first one, coming further into the diner, his gaze instantly narrowing on Big John, before dropping to the man on the floor. “He dead?”
“As a doornail,” Big John smirked.
“You kill him?” Big John nodded. The cop looked closely at the body from where he stood. “With what? I don’t see any gunshots.”
“With my hands.”
The cop took a minute to digest that. It was clear they knew one another, but there was no love lost between them.
“Killed the other fucker, too,” Big John admitted. “Had to use my gun on him, he was about to hurt my woman.”
The cop glanced my way. His mouth turned down at the corners. “Standard procedure, put your hands behind your back.” He holstered his gun and grabbed for his cuffs.
What? “It was self-defense!” I explained in a panicked voice.
“What the fuck, Sherman, it was self-defense,” Willy snarled at the younger man. “We all saw it. He had a gun to this pretty little gal’s head and was trying to force her out with him. They were here to rob me.”
“That right?” the policeman next to him asked. He looked beyond to where customers and waitresses were still quietly sitting. Every one of them nodded. Not one of them mentioned the Sentinels.
“So, what about this guy?” Sherman nodded towards the man at his feet, the one that Big John had killed with his hands.
“I didn’t have time to reach for my gun.”
“Let me see your gun,” Sherman demanded. Big John pulled it from behind his back and handed it over. “I’m sure you have a permit for this?”
What He Wants (Book 3 after Phantom Riders MC-Hawk and No Mercy) Page 18
