An Outlaw Wedding

by Jenika Snow

  Now it was Nico’s turn to shrug. “Listen, I respect the fuck out of Brick and his opinion of me, but I love Alexis more than anything else, and I won’t let anyone stop me from being with her.” The sound of the locker room door opening and slamming shut had him and Lucas glancing over at it. Brick stood on the other side, his gaze right on Nico, and this annoyed expression on his face.

  “Lucas, give us a minute,” Brick said in that harsh, stone-hard voice of his.

  His brother gave him a sympathetic look and ducked out of the room, leaving him alone with a very intimidating biker. There weren’t a lot of things that could crack Nico’s hard composure, but having the Sergeant at Arms staring him down, and making it known that he knew what the fuck was going on, was a pretty good foundation shaker.

  “I assume you heard all of that.” Nico didn’t phrase it like a question.

  “I heard enough to know what the fuck is going on.” Brick took a step closer, his voice low and intimidating.

  Nico might not take shit from anyone, and could hold his own, but this was Brick, a male to be fucking reckoned with. Nico stood his ground and lifted the black box up. He popped the lid and showed the ring to Brick. The bear shifter didn’t show any expression as he stared at the ring.

  “You talk to my daughter about this?”

  “We have talked about it, but it was just talk. She doesn’t know I want to propose, or that I had planned on talking to you—asking your permission for her hand.”

  Brick looked at Nico, and although the man was about forty years his senior, they were the same height and build. “You guys have been together for a long time.”

  “Yes, sir, we have.” Nico never addressed anyone with a formal title like that, but right now he wasn’t speaking to one of his MC brothers, a bear shifter, or the Sergeant at Arms. Right now he was speaking to the father of the woman he loved and wanted to marry.

  “And you love my girl.” Brick stated it as a fact.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “And you’ll protect her with your life? Take a fucking bullet for her and take out anyone that means to harm her?”

  “With my last breath.” Nico said that with so much determination that Brick nodded and grunted in response.

  “God, because I don’t want some pussy man trying to be with my daughter.”

  “Brick, she’s my world, and has been since I was little. I’d do anything for her, and before I put the question of marriage to her, I wanted to make sure you were okay with it.”

  Brick stayed silent, and his scar seemed even more pronounced the longer he stayed silent. “I know you want to say more than just that, son.” Brick crossed his arms over his sweaty, bare chest, and his muscles strained forward. Yeah, even just standing there he could be one intimidating asshole.

  “She’s going to be mine whether you give us permission or not. I love her, she loves me, and if she says yes, and you say no, I’ll still make her my wife.”

  Brick didn’t respond for several seconds, but Nico didn’t waver from his stare. “You got some balls there, boy.” He narrowed his eyes at Nico and then dropped his arms. “I should kick your ass on the grounds that you think you can come in here and talk to me that way.” There was this uncomfortable and tense moment between them. “With that said, ain’t no one going to take my daughter from me that I don’t approve of, you hear me, boy?”

  Yeah, Nico figured Brick would give him shit. It didn’t matter that Nico had been with Alexis this whole time, and that he had never once done anything to fuck it up. Brick, as well as all the Grizzly bikers with daughters and old ladies, was overprotective to the nth degree. But then again if and when Nico ever had a daughter he assumed he’d be the same way.

  “I don’t mean any disrespect, but you had to see this coming. I’ve been with Alexis for six fucking years—”

  “Watch your fucking mouth, kid.”

  “You had to know I’d want her as my old lady for life.”

  Brick stayed silent for a second, and then exhaled and ran a hand over his jaw. His scar stood out even more as he glowered even harder, but then he seemed to relax. “Yeah, I guess I was expecting it, and am surprised you lasted this long. And actually I was wondering when you’d get around to bringing this up to me.” Brick grinned, but Nico supposed it wasn’t an easygoing one. It was more of a growl/grimace type of smile, but Nico would take it.

  He exhaled and held his hand out for Brick to take, but the biker surprised the hell out of him by pulling him in and clapping him on the back. It was a hug … sort of, but that was saying a lot about Brick and his acceptance of it.

  “We have always been family, Nico, but now I’m your father-in-law, and that means if you fuck with my daughter’s heart the club won’t stop me, nor will Jagger, from kicking your ass to next Sunday.” Brick clapped him on the shoulder again and grinned down at him. “Don’t screw this up just because you have that ring on her finger.”

  “Never. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life.”

  ****

  Alexis sat next to Stinger as he was teaching her the accounts receivable. The club owned a bar in Steel Corner. It didn’t support the club, but it helped with a small and steady cash flow. They had a lot of the money tied up in smaller business throughout town, even some around the country. There were also funds that came through, and she knew they were blanketed with different companies that probably didn’t exist. The money either came from firearms, drugs, or was being earned by helping The Brothers of Menace in their endeavors. Being Nico’s old lady meant she was thick in the club, but was not privy to the workings of how the club ran or stayed afloat. Even though she was born into this lifestyle, and had a father that was at the head of the MC table, the club made sure to keep family sheltered from what happened. But Alexis preferred it that way anyway. She had tried calling Dakota to set up a double date kind of thing, but found out from his father that he had gone on a run and wouldn’t be back for a week. That was for the best anyway, because although she hadn’t asked Nico about his feelings on Dakota, and the fact it had been years since the altercation, she wasn’t all about stirring shit again.

  “Hey.” Tarren leaned against the doorframe and smiled.

  Tawny, Tarren’s sister who was a few years younger than Tarren, pushed her way past her sister and placed a greasy bag on the desk in front of Alexis. She wrinkled her nose. “For the guys working on the bike. They specifically asked for the greasiest, nastiest thing I could scrounge up. Tell them it’s burgers and fries from Dino’s.” With that Tawny turned and left and climbed right into a bright red Mustang. The guy in the driver’s seat had so many tattoos and piercings that it was hard to even distinguish what in the hell he looked like.

  “Ugh, her new boy-toy.”

  “I bet your dad’s real pleased about that.”

  “You should have seen his face when he caught them all but screwing in that douche’s car.”

  “And this would be my cue to leave. No way am I hearing about Dallas’s kids and that shit. No fucking way,” Stinger said and grabbed the bag after he stood. He left them alone in the office, and as soon as the door shut behind him they burst out laughing.

  “You’d think the way these old men act when sex is being talked about that they were virgins back in the day or something,” Tarren said and moved into the room, and sat down in the chair across from Alexis.

  “Yeah, but I think hearing about the kids by the men they consider brothers having sex and all that probably crosses the line for them,” Alexis said, and they both started laughing again.

  “So, I feel like it’s been forever since we actually talked, even though we did when you first got back.”

  I know. I’m sorry I’ve just been swamped with all this information from my mom and Stinger, and I want to make sure I get it all right,” She said and leaned back in her chair as she stared at Tarren.

  “I know, girl. I just miss you.” Tarren reached across the table and picked up one of the
invoices. She knitted her brows as she read it. “Is this for guns?” She held the invoice out.

  “Who knows what any of this stuff is really for, if you get my drift.”

  Tarren nodded and dropped the paper on the table. “Yeah, I am sure there is more illegal money floating around than the legal kind.”

  They were silent for a few moments, and then Tarren exhaled. “So, I have been meaning to tell you—”

  “Do I need to be sitting down for this?” Alexis grinned, because she already was, but the tone of Tarren’s voice told her that whatever she was going to say was probably a shocker.

  “Funny,” Tarren said in a bland voice. “You remember when I told you I fucked Lucas? Or I guess it was the other way around because all I could do was hang on for that ride.”

  Alexis shook her head and started chuckling. “Please, no details.”

  Tarren shook her head, too. “No, but, well, I thought it was only going to be that one right, ya know? Anyway it seemed like that since we went our separate ways and all for a while, but then things kind of picked back up.”

  “So you’re Lucas’s old lady?”

  Tarren held up her hands. “Hold the fuck up now, let’s not get crazy. Being an old lady is serious shit, you know that.”

  Alexis nodded. “So then what? You’re like boyfriend and girlfriend then?”

  Tarren was quiet for a few moments, and Alexis could tell she was really thinking hard. Her friend wore a hard exterior, tried to play things off like they were nothing, but deep down Alexis knew she kept a lot of shit buried.

  “You want to be his old lady, don’t you?” Alexis said more quietly, and when Tarren looked up at her she knew her friend had been trying to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal. “Why don’t you just talk to him? You guys have something between you. I know you do because I can hear it in your voice whenever you’ve talked about him.”

  Tarren exhaled loudly and leaned back in her chair. She picked at the hem of her tank top and then rested her head back on the chair. “Yeah, you have always been the one to see through my bullshit,” Tarren said but still stared at the ceiling. “I think I love him, but I think he only wants sex with me. I mean isn’t that all he’s after with any girl he spends a significant amount of time with?” Tarren looked at her then, and there was this vulnerability in her eyes that Alexis had never seen before.

  She didn’t want to say that yes, Lucas was like that, as were all the single members of the club. They had a lot of random sex with the club whores, and although Alexis wasn’t all about that and found it pretty disgusting, that was just the lifestyle they chose to lead. “If you care for him as much as you say you do—which I can see on your face that you do—then you need to tell him.” Alexis had no clue how Lucas felt, and yes, he was one of the bigger man-whores in the club, there was no doubt that he could care just as hard and deeply as the other men that had old ladies.

  “My biggest fear is spilling my heart, something you know I don’t do, and Lucas just telling me this is nothing more than a sexual relationship.”

  “Do you think that is really what he would say?”

  Tarren didn’t respond right away, but instead shook her head and sighed heavily. “He acts differently with me, and I’d like to think it’s because I mean more to him than the tramps he fucked before we started going out on what I consider dates, but…” She shrugged and looked at the ground again. “I honestly don’t know what Lucas wants out of life, and if what we are doing would be classified by him as having a good time with a girl that he trusts.”

  “I don’t believe that, but what I do know is that if you don’t talk to him all you’re going to do is worry about it, and then you’ll end up having a ruined relationship.”

  Tarren nodded and stood. “Thanks for listening to me. I honestly have had no one I trust as much as I do you, Alexis.”

  Before Alexis could say anything else Lucas and Nico pulled up on their Harleys, and the sound of their engines was so loud it blocked everything else out.

  “Yeah, and that’s my cue to leave because the way I’m feeling I don’t think I could keep my mouth shut.”

  They both stared out the office window and saw Nico and Lucas speaking. And then there was that damn Red club whore that had been keeping her distance until right now. She stopped beside Nico, but just before Alexis’s heart rate increased and her anger intensified, Nico moved away from her and toward the office. But Red clearly wasn’t going to give up just because one Landon twin didn’t want to give her the time of day. Red all but pressed her tits against the side of Lucas’s arm, and when he turned to the side, disengaging her from him, she walked over to his bike. It was like watching a train wreck, and neither Alexis nor Tarren could look away. Red moved her hands along the gleaming chrome and leather of Lucas’s bike, and although they couldn’t hear what she was saying, her body language told them she was trying to seduce Lucas.

  “God, what a skank.” Alexis hadn’t meant to say that out loud, and when Tarren snorted they both started laughing.

  “Yeah, well at least he isn’t all up on her like I thought he might be.”

  Alexis looked over at her. “If you guys are together he wouldn’t do anything to betray you.”

  Tarren smiled, but it was totally forced, that much was clear. “We never said there was anything more going on between us than what we are doing, girl.” She sighed again. “I’m not about to go out there and act like a jealous old lady. Some booty calls and occasionally going to dinner doesn’t make us exclusive.”

  Alexis didn’t say anything, because there was nothing else she could say that would make Tarren feel better about the situation. She would be the one that had to take control of her life and go after Lucas if she really wanted him.

  “Okay, I better get out of here.” Tarren gave Alexis a hug, and then Tarren was walking out the door and moving past Nico.

  Alexis watched her friend walk right past Lucas and Red, but she also didn’t miss how Lucas followed Tarren with his gaze the entire time. Even from the distance that was obvious. And when Tarren lifted her hand in a clear response to something Lucas said, she knew that this was serious for her. Tarren had never acted this way over a guy, but could Lucas focus on Tarren and give her what she deserved? Red reached out and smoothed her hand over Lucas’s arm, and that was when Alexis turned away. The side door opened, and she scented the leather smell of Nico before he grabbed her around the waist and turned her around.

  “Mmm, you smell like lemons, and you know how much I fucking love those.”

  She snorted, but had to stifle a moan when he slipped his hand down her belly and between her legs. Her leggings did nothing to shield herself from his wandering fingers. “Nico, you have to stop. My dad could walk in here at any minute.” She moaned out the last word, and just as he went to pull his hand away the door that led into the garage from the office opened, and of course her father stood there. Brick looked a little confused at first, but she knew he could tell what had been going on.

  “Boy, I told you the last time we talked to respect my little girl, and to respect me and this club.” Her dad took a step closer and pointed a grease covered hand at Nico. “If I ever see you doing this shit with her again under this roof before…” He stopped himself from finishing that sentence, and Alexis looked between her dad and Nico. “Just have respect, got it?”

  “Yeah, I got you, sir.”

  Sir?

  When the hell did Nico start calling her dad sir?

  “Um,” she cleared her throat, embarrassed that her dad had walked in on them doing anything sexual, and even more so because she was working. “Sorry, Dad.”

  He grunted in response. “Call your mother. She said she has been trying to call your cell and the office, and there isn’t an answer.” Brick looked over at Nico once more, glared at her boyfriend, and then turned and left.

  “What in the hell was that about?” she asked. Nico looked genuinely uncomfortable, and that had he
r laughing. “You know what? Never mind.”

  Nico moved toward her again and wrapped his thickly muscled arms around her waist. “Baby, how about I take you on a ride?” He kissed the top of her head, but she could tell he was still tense and nervous over something.

  She pulled back and looked into his face. “What’s going on with you all of the sudden?”

  He smoothed his hand over the back of her head. “Nothing, baby. But about that ride…”

  “Okay. I’ll be finished here after four. Pick me up then?”

  He nodded and leaned down to kiss her on the tip of her nose. “Okay, it’s a date.” He let go of her and turned to leave her alone in the office. All Alexis could do was stare at him and watch as he strode back to the garage. How could a man so big, so fierce and strong in his own right, be so gentle and sweet to her? He had always been like this with her, and judging by the way he looked in leather, with his Harley and the ink that covered his body, people would probably think him the worst kind of bad boy by his looks and reputation alone. He was associated with the club, and had done plenty of wild and reckless things in his life to make the people of Steel Corner look upon him and the other members like a stain on their picturesque community. But screw them all and their high and mighty attitudes. She loved Nico, bad boy attitude and all. He was the man she wanted to marry one day and have children with.

  She pulled her focus away when she could no longer see him, and saw that Red was still standing by Lucas’s and Nico’s bikes. That girl was trouble, and if she wanted to last in this club she’d better back the hell away from men that weren’t single. Tarren better get on telling Lucas that she wanted him as more than just a booty call, because Lucas wasn’t the type of grizzly to open up his heart to a woman even if he loved her. At least he hadn’t been in the past. Alexis supposed things could have changed over time, but judging by the whispers and rumors that she heard circulating through the club from the club pussy, it was clear Lucas liked to show his “affection” to anyone that wanted it. God, it always seemed like something was going on that would end in drama at The Grizzly MC clubhouse.