by Jade Kuzma
Shit.
It was him. Dorian. In the flesh. Sauntering his way toward the front counter in the only way he could.
Leather kutte. Baggy blue jeans. The ink on his arms more apparent underneath the sunlight. He looked just as handsome as he did the other night.
“Hey!” he greeted me. “Look who it is.”
“Dorian… What are you doing here?”
“I came here to see you and say hello.”
“How… How did you know I work here?”
“Come on, Gina. It’s a small town. The other Reapers know you. It’s not that hard to figure out.”
“I guess not…”
“Well… Who do we have here?”
When Dorian walked into the bakery, I’d forgotten that my boss was still there with me.
“You two know each other?” Lydia asked.
“Lydia,” I said. “This is Dorian. I went to high school with him.”
“Oh! That’s right! Now I know why you look so familiar. You were in the papers!”
Dorian nodded.
I bit my bottom lip to hide my smile but I couldn’t stop my cheeks from blushing. I never got embarrassed around a guy but I couldn’t help it now. All of a sudden, it was like I was back in high school.
Lydia shifted her eyes back and forth between Dorian and me. I could practically see the gears turning her head. The smirk forming on her lips made it clear what she was thinking.
“You’re a Reaper,” she said as she glanced down at the patch on his chest.
“Black Reaper,” Dorian said with a nod. “Finest in Ivory.”
“Not bad, Gina.”
Lydia turned back to me. I rolled my eyes, trying to hide the embarrassment I could feel burning through the rest of my body. Dorian stood there with a bit of confusion on his face, wondering why my boss was grinning like a moron.
“Gina says she knows you from high school,” Lydia said. “How about a donut? It’s on the house. A friend of Gina’s is a friend of mine.”
“No thanks,” he replied. “I’m not a big fan of sugar. Though I do know how delicious the donuts are here.”
“Suit yourself.”
“Lydia,” I said. “You know, I was having a bit of problem with the mixer in the back. I was wondering if you might be able to go back there and check it out for me. You were always better with the machinery than me.”
I clenched my jaw and widened my eyes at her, trying to tell her to go away without so many words. Lydia smirked at me then turned back to Dorian.
“It was nice meeting you, Dorian,” she said. “Don’t be a stranger now.”
She gave him a wink before waddling to the back of the bakery. I sighed a deep breath as soon as she disappeared.
“What’s her deal?” Dorian said.
“She’s just teasing me. I told her about what happened last night and you just happened to show up.”
“Oh, right. Bad timing. Sorry about that.”
“There’s no need to be sorry. I’m happy to see you. So… what really brings you here?”
He gave me a confused look.
“You,” he said.
“Me? You mean you’re really not here to pick up some donuts or a cup of coffee?”
“Is it that surprising?”
“No, it’s just…”
I looked into Dorian’s gray eyes. He seemed sincere enough. But he still had a youthful face despite being a year older than me. I couldn’t help but think of the popular guy in high school who never paid attention to me. Here he was now, going out of his way just to talk to me.
“It’s just what?” he said.
He scratched the side of his temple in confusion, his dark brown hair patted down on his head. Even the muscles on his arms were distracting and making it hard for me to focus.
“It’s nothing,” I said, blinking and shaking my head to clear my thoughts. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”
“There’s not much going on at the clubhouse. With the feds in town, every club is on lockdown. The club isn’t holding any events and the meetings aren’t being called. And I’ve got a late shift at the station, so I’ve got a lot of free time.”
“So you decided to come here and pay me a visit?”
“Sure. Unless you’re too busy—”
“No, no, no! I’m not busy. I’m not busy at all. I could use the company, actually.”
“You don’t mind if I hang around?”
With Lydia still in the back, I was a bit hesitant of having Dorian in the same building as her. But I wasn’t about to kick him out.
“Make yourself at home,” I said. “I’m gonna be working for a few hours though, just to let you know.”
“That’s cool. I was thinking… Maybe later tonight we could hang out.”
“Hang out?”
“Like dinner. Is that… something you’re interested in?”
He stared at me with a confident smile on his face. Looking into his eyes, I couldn’t get past him. Dorian Sullivan. The most popular guy in high school was asking me out to dinner.
“Gina?”
“What?”
“Do you wanna have dinner tonight?”
“Oh! Right! Sure… That sounds like it would be all right.”
“I really don’t have much to do, so I’ll probably be sitting around here for a few hours.”
“The lounge chairs are pretty comfortable.”
I laughed awkwardly. Dorian smiled as he took a seat at the corner of the bakery. I went back to work cleaning the display case.
Lydia waddled back out to the front of the bakery and saw Dorian sitting by himself.
“You know, I can let you off early if you want—”
“That’s all right,” I said. “I’m not in any hurry.”
She leaned in close to me and whispered.
“He’s hot. Nice catch.”
She gave me another obnoxious wink as she left me to my work. I was already looking forward to spending some time with Dorian tonight. Not having to deal with my nosy boss only made me want the hours to go by even faster.
Chapter 7
DORIAN
When I wasn’t at the fire station, I spent most of my time at the clubhouse just getting better acquainted with my surroundings. A lazy Saturday afternoon at Amy’s Bakery was a nice change of pace from my usual routine. I didn’t mind that there wasn’t shit to do. Ivory was a small town without much in it. I’d been here most of my life. I was used to it.
I kept Gina company for a few hours before she finally got off her shift. The sun was just beginning to go down when we headed out on the town. A quiet restaurant where we could spend some time alone together was just what I needed.
The place wasn’t packed. Everybody sat at their tables and minded their own business. It gave me the opportunity to stare at the girl right in front of me.
Damn…
I didn’t know how I never noticed a girl like Gina back in high school. She looked just as hot as anybody I remembered. That sultry stare. Those cherry red lips. A couple of tits that looked like they were about to burst out of her top. Everything about her had my focus. Shit, I must have been really distracted for me not to remember her.
She didn’t seem to mind that I was staring at her. I liked a girl who wasn’t afraid to admit when she was interested. I wasn’t that old but I played too many games. Seeing Gina’s sly little smile was enough to make me want to get to know her even better.
“So…” she started. “How’s Ivory treating you?”
We shared a laugh as she broke the ice.
“Ivory is treating me just fine. I wouldn’t have come back if it didn’t.”
“Where did you go?”
“Let me see…”
I sighed as I went over the details in my head.
“After high school, everybody went off to college. The university thing wasn’t for me though. I enlisted.”
“Enlisted?”
“The Marines. It only felt natural
.”
“That’s surprising.”
“Why is that surprising?” I asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Because you were a star quarterback. I figure colleges all over the country would have been clamoring for you.”
“Yeah, they were. They offered me more scholarships than I could look at.”
“What happened? You didn’t want to play football?”
“Football was fun. I had a chance to maybe go pro. Make millions of dollars.”
“Sounds like a dumb mistake not to take up their offer.”
Her blunt response made me laugh. I’d never met anybody who was so honest with me. And seeing as how I just formally met her not even a day ago, I knew she was being real with me.
“I just… I didn’t feel like it,” I said. “Joining the Marines felt like the right thing to do. I don’t regret it.”
“How did you end up back in Ivory?”
“I did a few tours. Afghanistan mostly. I even went to East Asia one time. But…”
I looked down at the table as I thought about it. Gina’s eyes widened in curiosity. Even though I wasn’t afraid of being honest with her, now would be a shitty time to bore her with all of the details.
“…I left,” I said. “I came back to Ivory and went to the fire academy. Finished that up and now I’m a volunteer.”
“All right… I think I got it… You joined the Marines, came back to Ivory and now you’re a firefighter… A simple story of a man who left and returned to his hometown.”
“Yeah,” I said with a chuckle. “Something like that.”
“What about that?”
She pointed at the patch on my chest. I glanced down at it and shrugged.
“What about it?” I said.
“What made you wanna join the Black Reapers?”
“Everybody in town knows that the clubs run this place. Not officially, anyway. I figure I like riding, I might as well patch up.”
“Clubs in this town get a lot of scrutiny. You were in the paper being celebrated the other day but if you get caught slipping, they’ll tear you down.”
“I don’t plan on doing anything stupid. I’m the only member of the club without a criminal record.”
“And who says the Black Reapers are all bad boys?”
She winked with that same seductive smile on her lips. Knowing what she was capable of, I didn’t have to think hard to know what was on her mind. I couldn’t help but smile just the same at her.
“What about you?” I said. “What happened to you after high school?”
She burst into laughter and shook her head.
“Sorry,” she sighed.
“Sorry?”
“I don’t have anything interesting like you. No flying across to the other side of the world. No patching into a club. No going to the fire academy. I did the university thing for a semester but it wasn’t for me. I’ve been working at Amy’s Bakery ever since.”
“Right,” I said with a nod. “There’s no shame in that. That’s part of the reason why Tracy left me.”
“What happened? If you don’t mind—”
“I don’t mind,” I said with a smile.
Most guys would have been uncomfortable talking about their ex-broads. But that’s exactly what Tracy was. Just another memory to me.
“She wasn’t too happy about me turning down all of those scholarships,” I said. “She thought it would be a good chance for us to be together.”
“She was right.”
“She was. I’ll admit that. But it just… It wasn’t for me. We tried to make it work when I was away but it was only a matter of time. Tracy was hot. There were guys lining up, just waiting to fuck her. She could only hold out for so long.”
“Wow, Dorian… I’m sorry…”
“Don’t be. As soon as it was over, I banged enough broads to get over her.”
We shared another laugh. It was strange to talk to a girl and be so candid with her. It felt like I’d known Gina for years. Apparently, I had and I just didn’t realize it.
The waiter arrived with our food and I started digging in. Gina had a hearty appetite, not like most of the dainty women I was used to. She didn’t hesitate in stuffing her face. When she noticed me staring at her, she looked sheepishly at me and wiped her lips with her napkin.
“I’ve had a long day,” she said. “Working at the bakery is more tiring than you would think.”
“You don’t have to explain it to me,” I said. “Amy’s is a tough place to work at. Everybody goes there. I’m sure you’re always looking to maintain your energy.”
“Yeah… It’s just sometimes…”
She paused. I waited for her to continue but she didn’t.
“Sometimes what?” I asked.
“…It’s nothing,” she said as she shook her head. “This food is really good.”
“That’s why I come here. I’ve been coming to this place ever since I was a kid and they haven’t changed the recipes. The steaks are always just how I like ‘em.”
“Ever since you were a kid… How’s your family? Are they still in town?”
“My parents are still here. They’re retired. Not much going on there. My sister got a job in the big city, so I don’t see her as much. It’s just me… living on my own. How about you?”
She stuffed her face with another healthy bite of food and swallowed it down.
“It’s just me,” she said with a shrug. “My parents are retired, too. No brothers. No sisters.”
“You still hang out with anybody from high school? Any old friends you keep in touch with?”
She giggled at me and shook her head again.
“I didn’t have many friends in high school,” she said. “It’s kind of hard to believe, I know, but graduating was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It gave me a chance to leave it all behind…”
She wasn’t smiling as much as she was just a few seconds ago. She put her head down and stared at her food as she worked with her knife and fork. I figured there was no point in probing any further.
“What about you?” she asked. “You stay in touch with anybody from high school?”
“That was six years ago. Tracy was the person I was closest to and, well, you know how that shit ended.”
“It’s pretty crazy…”
“Crazy?”
“I mean, Tracy was the hottest girl at the school. Class president. Head cheerleader. You two were the perfect couple.”
“We had fun. The sex was amazing.”
I tested her to see how offended she would get. But she responded just how I expected her to, the smile returning to her face.
“I’ll bet it was,” she said.
“How about you? You have a lot of good times in Ivory? I hear Finn’s Bar is the place to go to get really crazy.”
“I… I’ve had my fun. The same as any other young woman in this town. There’s an endless number of men in leather kuttes just lining up, stroking their cocks, and looking to stick it into something.”
“I bet there are a lot of guys lining up for you…”
I narrowed my eyes at her. I didn’t know how our conversation had gotten to this point. But Gina seemed willing to play along, staring at me with reddened cheeks and failing miserably to hide her grin.
“Now, Dorian,” she started. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s not polite to talk to a woman like that at the dinner table?”
“I always treat a woman how she wants to be treated. But I’ve gotta be honest.”
“Honest?”
“Looking at that mouth right now, I’m thinking about what you did with it just last night.”
I stuffed a bite of food into my mouth and gave her a confident smile. Her reddened cheeks became even more apparent on her pale skin. I could still see her giggling as she put her head down and took another bite.
Yeah, I like this girl…
Gina helped herself to a glass of wine to help loosen herself up.
&nb
sp; “Why don’t you have a drink?” she asked.
“No thanks. Too much alcohol makes it hard to enjoy the ride.”
“You bikers and your bikes.”
“Us bikers and our bikes.”
“You don’t drink coffee. You don’t eat donuts. You don’t drink alcohol. And you live in Ivory. Goodness, Dorian. You don’t know how to have any fun.”
“Oh, I know how to have fun. There are plenty of other ways to entertain myself.”
“I hope you don’t entertain yourself too often.”
“Well, it’s nice to have someone else entertain me.”
Shit.
It was getting harder and harder to have a straight conversation with Gina. But the way she looked at me, I couldn’t help but think about anything else.
We both managed to ease the obvious sexual tension between us long enough to finish our meals. Gina helped herself to another glass of wine. I leaned back in my seat and just stared at her.
“Thanks for dinner,” she said. “I can’t remember the last time a guy ever took me out for a meal.”
“I’m sure there are plenty of guys who are willing to take you out for a meal. Most of them just don’t have the balls to step up.”
“Most of them aren’t in the Black Reapers.”
“No, they’re not. It takes a special kind of man to wear this patch.”
I leaned forward across the dinner table and propped my elbows up on it. The time I spent with Gina at dinner seemed to fly by. I didn’t want it to end. There was something about her that felt so familiar and I wasn’t about to say goodbye so soon.
“So, what do you usually do?” I asked. “You head on home and get ready for work tomorrow?”
“Actually, I have the day off.”
“Is that right?”
“Lydia is cutting my hours. She wants to let some of the new hires get more experience.”
She took a sip of her wine glass then leaned forward across the table toward me. I looked down into her brown eyes, trying hard not to stare at her cleavage but taking a peek anyway.
“I’ve got no plans,” she whispered.
“You feel like spending a little more time with me?”
“And what exactly do you have planned for me, Dorian?”
