What He Wants (Book 3 after Phantom Riders MC-Hawk and No Mercy)

by Tory Richards

  “Hey, girlfriend,” she said in a groggy voice.

  “Did you just get up?” I laughed.

  “Yeah,” I heard a rustle of movement and then, “Stop that!” Her remark was followed up with the sound of a slap.

  I rolled my eyes. “I take it that you’re not alone.”

  Laughter rolled over the phone. “Got my big, strong, biker man here with me,” she confessed. “Stop it!” Another slap.

  “Look, why don’t you call me back when you can talk?”

  “I can talk now. Ohhh!”

  “Jasmine!” I raised my voice.

  “I’m sorry, honey. I’m calling to see if you want to spend the day with us over in Skowhegan.”

  “Us?”

  “Some of the old ladies are going, too. We’re going to do lunch, hair, nails, waxing. Hey, maybe you can get a bikini wax now that you have a man.”

  “You’re terrible,” I scolded, laughing. “Maybe my man doesn’t want a clean-shaven pussy.” I had forgotten all about the men sitting in the living room behind me until it grew quiet and I looked over my shoulder to see six pairs of intense eyes on me. I felt a flush spread across my body and spun around with embarrassment, walking further away.

  “Honey, take my word for it, men like it clean down there.”

  “Well, you would know.”

  “Ouch!” Jasmine feigned hurt. “That was a low blow, get it? Low blow?”

  Her silly laughter was contagious. “What are you on?” I couldn’t help asking. I knew on occasion that she smoked pot.

  I heard her gasp. “Why, nothing! You wound me with your accusations. So, do you want to go with us?”

  I thought about what my day had been like so far--the trouble at the diner, and then being shot at. I would have liked to spend the day with Big John, getting to know him better, but the way things were going I suddenly wanted to get away from everything. I needed a spa day to help unwind, and I enjoyed being around the women in the club.

  “I’ll go. Are you going to come by and pick me up?”

  “Yeah, be there in about thirty minutes.”

  I hung up and swung around, slamming into Big John. “Oh!” My hands automatically went to his chest.

  “Going somewhere, babe?” His tone was as hard as his expression.

  My gaze fell to his sensual mouth, trying not to think about how good it had felt on mine when he was giving me one of his hot, toe-curling kisses. Had he been listening in? “I’ve been invited to a spa day with some of your women,” I explained.

  “Old ladies,” he clarified. “My women would be the club sweetbutts.”

  I pressed my mouth, hating him at that instant for reminding me why those women were there, knowing that he’d probably slept with every single one of them. Not “slept,” fucked their brains out was more likely. “Is going to the spa allowed?” I couldn’t help asking, slapping my hands on my hips.

  He gave me a nod. “Yeah, they won’t be going alone.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When the old ladies get together for a girls’ night out or something they don’t go anywhere without a club escort. It’s for their protection, as much as for keeping them out of trouble. There’ll be a couple of prospects on them at all times.”

  “Really? Don’t they get tired of being followed around?”

  He shrugged. “The prospects keep their distance. The women don’t even notice them.”

  I was sure that I’d notice if someone was following me around and watching me all the time. “So, if I’m with them then I’m protected too?” He nodded. I smiled. “See? That won’t cost you anything, either.”

  God, why had it hurt so much when he’d hesitated from saying that he would claim me? I didn’t want to be claimed, did I? And now I was making the situation worse by being a bitch, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. I wanted him to see how it felt to be rejected, because that’s how I’d felt. It felt like I was good enough to fuck, but not have as a girlfriend.

  “Thank fuck for that,” he snarled, turning away.

  Ouch.

  Rock and BK got to their feet and came to the kitchen with their cups. “We’ll be leaving. Make sure you don’t wander away from the group when you’re in Skowhegan. The prospects are there to protect the old ladies.”

  “Yes, I get it, and I’m not one.” Big John snorted, but said nothing.

  “In the meantime, we’ll try to find out what’s going on,” Rock continued. “If anything happens, or you think of anything else that we should know, get in touch right away. Be smart about this, sweetheart.”

  I gave him a nod, knowing that he was right. I didn’t even want to think that Paul could be in the area, considering what he was capable of and the threats he’d yelled over the phone. I knew they weren’t idle threats. And if it had been him who’d shot at us? Then he’d acquired a gun sometime after I’d run away, because he hadn’t had one before that.

  “And King’s will be out in the morning to install your security system.”

  “Thank you.”

  When they were gone and the door was closed, Big John and I made eye contact. The air between us felt awkward. “I’m not leaving you alone,” he said roughly.

  “Jasmine will be here in less than half an hour,” I explained, crossing my arms. “I’m sure I’ll be okay−”

  “Then I’ll stay until she shows up,” he insisted in a firm, no-nonsense tone. The look in his eyes said that I shouldn’t fight him on it. “And just for the record--” I waited, all but holding my breath, “I’ve already claimed you in my mind. But claiming you before the club, making it public, scares the fuck out of me.”

  I wasn’t expecting this. Big John--afraid? I couldn’t fathom it. He was the scariest, toughest man I knew, all growly and bad ass. Other men in his MC were bigger, like Hawk, that man was a freaking giant, Rock, too, but what made Big John so menacing was the look in his dark eyes. They were bottomless pits filled with darkness and loss. There was a wealth of anguish there, too, the kind that revealed that he had convinced himself that he was a bad man. An undeserving man.

  As we stared at each other, I felt myself wavering. The truth was, I really did like Big John, a lot, and I wanted something more with him.

  “Why does it scare you so much?”

  “Because once a brother claims a woman it changes everything, and when I claim you, there’s no going back.” His expression was fierce. “Ever.”

  Big John’s words chilled me and thrilled me at the same time, and that was crazy. I knew what he was saying. Part of me even understood and agreed with it, but it was what he wasn’t saying that frightened me more. I was suddenly glad that I’d be spending the afternoon with the wives of the club, because I had a lot of questions for them. I needed to know exactly what it meant to be an old lady.

  And how much of my soul I’d have to give up to make it work.

  Chapter 24

  Big John

  “I put in a call to Covacks, we don’t have to worry about Whistler,” Hawk announced once everyone was inside and sitting down.

  Jumper tossed me a scowl and I raised my hand, already knowing what he was thinking. I couldn’t blame him. Hell, I’d be pissed too if someone questioned me. “Not that I don’t trust what you say you saw at Last Hope, brother, but we have to be sure. For all we know, Covacks’ men just tapped him on the head and told him to get gone.”

  “What about the rest of the Trouble Makers? Three of them showed up unexpectedly at Last Hope. You suppose we’re gonna have to worry about them now that their president is dead?” Clay wanted to know.

  I shook my head. “The club’s been out for years, fuck, half the members moved on or can’t be found. If their VP and enforcer are out of prison, then I’d say it’s a good possibility.” I glanced at Fox. “Are Taco and Mooch still inside?”

  He nodded. “Taco killed a guard a couple of years ago, so he won’t be out, ever. Mooch is messed up in the head, bad. Got jumped early on by a gang and
they beat him near to death.”

  I nodded, taking it in. “So that eliminates them as threats.”

  “Sounds to me like their club is worse off now than it was when their prez was still alive and in prison,” Jumper pointed out.

  “I agree,” Hawk nodded. “Unless someone steps up and decides to take over. Ned and Painter, I want you brothers to watch over them to see what their next move is.” The two acknowledged Hawk with chin lifts. He returned his gaze to me. “Anyone else we need to worry about from Trouble Makers?”

  “The only other officer was Tiger, their road captain, but without the others to back him up he won’t be a threat. Besides, last time I saw him he was deep into drugs.”

  “Selling?”

  “Using.”

  “Fox, see if you can find out anything about him just to be sure.”

  “Will do, Prez.”

  “I think that covers the Trouble Makers,” Hawk said, reaching for his beer. “Now what about this shooting out at Daisy’s place? Any leads on who it was?”

  “One possibility is her ex,” Rock responded. “Fox is investigating.”

  “Damn glad their aim was off, brother.” He looked at me. “Or we’d be voting for a new enforcer this church.” Snorts of laughter went around the room.

  I joined in before saying, “With all due respect, Prez, fuck you.”

  There was a grin on his mouth as he took a long chug of his beer. In the old days, before Audra had come onto the scene and tamed his ass, he would have punched me out cold for saying that. Hell, he might have killed me. But she’d brought peace and calm to our prez. They weren’t exactly good traits for the president of an outlaw MC to have, but Hawk had needed it to survive. Having an old lady was good for some men.

  “What do we know about him?”

  “He’s a prick,” I snarled, clenching my fists, wondering how much of her past I wanted to divulge to my brothers. But the answer was, they needed to know, needed to understand who we were dealing with. “He beat her and used sex as punishment.” I could see their frowns and understood their confusion.

  “Rape?” Hawk barked. I clenched my jaw and nodded. “Fuck, brother.”

  “Why are we looking at him for the shooting?” Snake asked.

  “He got in touch with her a couple of days ago, threatened to kill her and any man he caught her with.” It still infuriated me that Daisy hadn’t immediately told me about the contact he’d made.

  “Well that’s fucking clear enough,” said Snake as he settled back in his chair.

  “I didn’t get a look at the shooter, but I’ve seen the black Cadillac near her house twice now.”

  “I pulled up his information. He owns some fancy, exclusive restaurant in Boston, has friends in high places. When they divorced, she got a third of their assets because of some pre-nup. He fought her every step of the way, too, didn’t want her walking away with anything. It wasn’t an amicable divorce.”

  “What divorce is?” Painter laughed.

  Fox continued. “I called the restaurant just to see if I could talk to Singleton, her ex, but someone there said he wasn’t available. When I explained it had to do with business and asked when he would be available, they put some bitch on who said he was taking some personal time off, and would I leave a number where he could call me.” He snorted. “Hung up on the bitch. By the way, he doesn’t own a caddy.”

  “That don’t mean shit,” Rock barked.

  “Drives a Mercedes. If he rented a caddy he did it under a different name.”

  “What kind of person drives a caddy when they go to off their ex anyway?” Painter joked. “Not exactly covert.”

  “A narcissistic, entitled fucker. Asshole,” I sneered.

  “This could all be moot, we don’t even know if he’s the shooter.”

  The room broke out in laughter. “Moot!” Clay exploded, laughing so hard he doubled over with it. “What the hell kind of word is that?”

  “You need to watch your language, brother, or we’ll have to wash your mouth out with soap,” Jumper joined in, leaning back in his chair. “We have reputations to protect.”

  Snake just sat there glaring at everyone. “Goddamnit!” he swore after a while. “Heard Robin use that fuckin’ word the other day with one of the kids. Sounded damned cute coming out of her mouth.”

  “It loses something coming out of yours,” Ned snorted.

  “Snake’s right, brothers.” The room quieted down as our president’s tone demanded. “We don’t know who the shooter is, or who he was after. We can’t afford to assume it’s Daisy’s ex just because it’s convenient and makes sense. What in our world makes sense?”

  “We need to assume the shooter is after Big John and Daisy until we know for sure,” Rock said after Hawk. “The Trouble Makers aren’t our only enemies out there.” Murmurs and head nods of agreement rippled around the room as brothers responded. “What’s your gut telling you, Big John?”

  I looked our VP square in the eyes. “I think Daisy’ ex is a sick, possessive fuck. Now that the restraining order she had on him is no longer in effect, he’s making good his threats.” I folded my arms.

  “You going to claim her?”

  I clenched my jaw at Hawk’s question, and fought the urge to punch the knowing smirk off Rock’s face. I knew the answer to that question was important, and Rock had already received the answer once that day, even if it had been somewhat reluctantly given. The club wouldn’t protect Daisy any other way. I knew that I’d protect her with my life, but if anything happened to her on my watch--I didn’t even want to think about it. In my world, we were a club of brothers that had one another’s backs in all things. And that meant our families, too.

  I thought about when we’d gone on recent lockdown. It was different when you brought in a lot of people and could protect them under one roof, but when it came to tying up a prospect on one person outside club grounds, that was usually reserved for brothers and their immediate family members. Old ladies had always been high on the list.

  “I don’t see what the problem is. You don’t want her, I’ll take her.”

  I ignored the instant anger that rose inside of me thinking of Painter with Daisy. “I don’t have a fucking problem. When I’m ready to claim an old lady, I will.”

  “I don’t blame Big John for wanting to wait,” BK said, blowing out a stream of blue smoke while crushing out his cigarette. “Look what having an old lady has done to all of you fucks,” he joked, glancing around the table.

  “You don’t know what you’re missing, brother,” Hawk said with a smirk. “Going home to a nice warm, clean bed every night, a sweet woman, babies if you’re lucky. There’s worse things out there.”

  The married men at the table were all nodding in agreement. Hawk’s words were the very reason I was holding off claiming Daisy as mine, fear that I could have those things. Fear that I could lose it just as easily.

  “So what do we do to protect Daisy until we find out what’s going on?”

  “She’s going to spend her nights here,” I spoke up.

  “And what do we do to protect Big John?” Painter asked with humor. “Who’s he gonna spend the night with?”

  Always kidding around. I shot him the bird, but otherwise ignored him. “If we can’t put a prospect on her during the day, I’ll fucking do it myself.”

  More than one set of brows shot up, but Prez was the one who spoke. “And shuck your club duties?”

  “Have I ever shucked my responsibilities?” I demanded through my teeth.

  Hawk released a loud breath with a hardness in his eyes that I’d seen many times before. “Do what you have to, brother. We’ll support you.” I gave him a chin lift because those three words said it all, and I knew he’d have my back. The club had my back. “What else?” He glanced down at a ledger. “Cooper and Gator still set for the protection run tomorrow night?”

  Rock nodded and then spoke because Hawk hadn’t raised his gaze from the ledger. “Yep.”


  “Do we know what the product is?” This time he raised his gaze.

  Rock shook his head. “We don’t want to know.” That usually meant that it was the kind of shit that would have rival clubs scrambling to get their hands on it.

  Hawk turned his attention to me.

  “I’ll follow at a distance in case there’s an ambush.”

  “Good idea. We’ve been lucky lately. Let’s not tip the scales.” He turned a page. “We haven’t sent anyone to Last Hope for the club in a while, anyone interested? There’s a big pot for anyone who wins against Crusher.”

  Hawk’s only response was a loud chorus of snorts as each brother made it clear that it wouldn’t be him. Crusher was Covacks’ own fighter, and lethal as fuck in the ring. Not too many beat the over-muscled Russian. It didn’t surprise me that none of us were eager to meet our maker, because when you got in the ring with Crusher, you left there in a body bag. The only fools who willingly climbed into the ring with him were the poor, desperate fucks that had nothing to lose.

  “Bunch of pussies,” he muttered, but there was no heat in his words. Little by little, the MC was bowing out of shit that brought in more pain than money. And why shouldn’t we? None of us were getting any younger. Most of us had families now, families that needed us, and the club was rolling in dough, most of which was legal these days. Most, but not all of it. And that didn’t mean we weren’t a one-percent club, because we still lived by our own rules.

  “Are the strip clubs covered for the next week?” He glanced at Fox for confirmation, because Fox did the schedules for the prospects.

  The clubs Hawk was talking about were the two that Covacks owned and we provided muscle for. We had previously handled six of his clubs, but he’d sold the others, leaving the Tittie Kittie and Pussy Pat.

  Fox gave a loud yawn before saying, “Yep.”

  “Are we keeping you awake, brother?” Rock smirked.

  “Hey, it’s tiring sitting at a computer all day, looking over surveillance footage and investigating shit.” He yawned again.

  Hawk snapped his ledger closed. “Anyone else need to bring something to the table?” He waited a few seconds. “Church is out.”