...or something: Ronacks Motorcycle Club

by Debra Kayn

  Mel leaned his lanky body against her car and grinned, showing her a gap in his two front teeth. "You going to give me a ride someday?"

  "No," she said.

  "Ah, come on." He leaned her way. "We could go out."

  "Battery would kill you first." She sighed and looked behind her.

  Battery promised to come over and see her check out her present and be with her, and he never showed. She put the key in her pocket. All of her so-called friends had already left.

  "You're probably right about Prez." Mel shoved his hands in his vest. "Sucks, though."

  "What does?" she asked.

  "That Battery doesn't let anyone in the club ask you out." Mel lowered his voice. "I'd take the chance of sneaking away for a drive with you. You'd be worth it."

  "I'm not worth your life, and you're a jerk for throwing away what Ronacks Motorcycle Club gives you and you're not even patched in yet. You screw up once, and you can kiss your ass goodbye." She stepped away. "I'm going to the house to find Battery and thank him for the car."

  "I'll go with you." Mel hurried and fell into step with her. "Are you seeing one of those guys that hang around you? You know, your friends?"

  "No."

  "Why not?"

  She glanced at him. "What's with all the questions?"

  "Curious."

  She continued walking, uninterested in the conversation. "I have better things to do than waste my time playing their games and hooking up when they want sex. Besides, they only come around because Battery lets them stick around outside at the parties."

  Not that the boys hadn't tried to be with her. Chance and Nate tried every time they came around, and if she wasn't careful and they caught her alone, their hands got too friendly. Their insincere and selfish ways to get their kicks at her expense turned her off. She had no desire to be with anyone because she already made up her mind on who she wanted and she wouldn't settle for anything less.

  "Looks like everyone from Ronacks went inside." Mel picked up an extra piece of cake left out on the picnic table. "Your friends left without saying goodbye."

  Sometimes she wondered if Mel had full use of his brain. Since she waited for Battery out at the car, she'd missed out on having a piece of her birthday cake. If she got lucky, one of the women belonging to the club put a piece away in the kitchen, and she could taste her cake later.

  She walked to the door, more determined to find Battery. Forgetting about Mel, she went inside.

  The music, mellower than earlier, set the mood for the others in the club as they wound down from the day. A dozen people surrounded the pool table, and the rest were at the bar and lounging on the two couches in the room. By the sight of them, drinks had started flowing steadily, and the women had picked the biker they wanted to spend their time with already.

  What should've been the living room of the house was the main entertainment area for the club. A place where they could all relax and do what they wanted. Bree scanned the room looking for Battery and finally found the back of his brown hair over in the corner behind the pool table.

  She skirted the players and squeezed between Grady and Amber. Excitement filled her like every time she got close to Battery, and she reached forward to tap him on the back and thank him again when a woman with blonde hair she'd noticed a few times hanging out at the house laughed and Battery's head dipped toward the lady.

  Bree dropped her hand to her side before touching him and stepped away. Angered that Battery would miss out on seeing her get her present from him and not caring enough about her birthday to spend the time with her, she turned, and shoulder bumped Grady in her rush to leave the room. Bouncing off Grady's large body, she grabbed onto the pool table to regain her balance and hurried through the room to the back stairs.

  Tears ruined her vision, and she missed a step, catching herself with her hands on the carpeted steps. Frustrated, she pushed back and swiped her eyes with her hands as she stomped upstairs to her and Battery's private living area. Sometimes, she hated Battery and the way he went with other women without a thought to how she'd feel.

  During those times, and there were a lot of them, she had the urge to walk out the front door. The impulse to run away from the pain stronger than her desire for the security and love she received. It was at those times, like tonight, that her complicated relationship with Battery overwhelmed her.

  She marched to the refrigerator, opened the door, and spotted two large pieces of cake covered in Saran wrap. The emotions of today caught up with her and seeing Battery flirting with a woman when he should've been at her side on her birthday knocked her sideways. No longer caring about her birthday or finding out if it was Battery or someone else that remembered to keep a piece of cake for her, she removed the paper plate from the fridge and tossed the whole thing in the trash.

  Clamping her lips, she muffled her scream of frustration. She'd done everything possible to get Battery's attention over the years, and nothing fazed him. He patiently let her make a fool of herself over him and for what?

  He liked her. She'd even go as far to say he loved her. He took care of her and treated her as if she belonged to him, but when it came to showing him how much she loved him, he shut her down cold, even though his eyes told the truth while his mouth lied.

  She'd bet her life with Battery that he wanted her, too.

  He probably regretted bringing her to Montana, and now he gave her a car, and she was free to leave. Maybe she should go and prove to him once and for all that she wasn't living some childhood fantasy, but she was a woman with feelings and every single one of them was wrapped around him.

  The door opened to the upstairs and clicked shut. "Bree?" said Battery.

  She wiped her face and hurried over to the couch. Her chest pounded, and she stared out the floor to ceiling window even though she couldn't see a blasted thing in the darkness. She'd made a lot of mistakes in her life, but she'd never regret trusting Battery, even if he ended up breaking her heart.

  He walked into the room. "Hey...I was looking for you."

  He was not.

  "Did you check out the car?" He sat on the coffee table in front of her.

  Of course, she had, and she'd waited for him like she always waited.

  She nodded. "Yeah, thanks again."

  He frowned and leaned forward, placing his hands on her bare thighs. The warmth of his rough, broad hands restarted the tears in her eyes, and she blinked them dry.

  "What's going on, carny-girl?" he whispered. "Did someone upset you?"

  She wanted to scream that he upset her.

  "It's been a big day," she said.

  He moved and sat beside her, tucking her under his arm. She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes when his hand stroked her hair. He was here with her now. That's all that mattered.

  One day, he'd wake up and realize the women who hung around the club members meant nothing to him. She'd seen them come and go, and he only used them. He used everyone, except her.

  People believed they understood and knew Battery. Club members, women, and even the residents of Haugan only understood what Battery allowed them to see. Nobody understood him or witnessed what she had over the years.

  He was different around her, especially when they were alone. He was her family, and he might believe that the club was all the family he needed, he'd be wrong again. He needed her. Deep down, they were connected and closer than they were to anyone else.

  He sought her out. He watched her sleep. He wanted to touch her, and she'd felt him pull back until it pained him. And, he could deny it, fight it, and try to change it every minute of every day, but she was the one on the other side of his needs. And, she was done waiting for him.

  Completely done.

  There was nothing stopping her from going after what she wanted, and from the moment she met Battery, trusted him to take her away from the carnival, keep her safe from his club, she'd wanted him.

  She sighed and snuggled against him. "I don't hav
e my license."

  "You'll get it. Until then, you can drive the backroads and keep your speed under control, and the cops won't do a thing to you." Battery stopped moving his hand and held her tight. "You'll probably figure out right quick that the roads never stop. You can drive forever, see places you've never been."

  She pushed against him without leaving his arms and looked him in the eyes. "I'm never leaving you."

  "Never is a long time," he mumbled.

  She kissed his cheek, leaving her lips on his bearded face, and whispered, "Forever."

  "You need to go to bed, and I need to get back downstairs." His fingers knotted in the strands of her hair skimming her lower back. "In the morning, you can take me for a ride in your Corvette."

  She sagged against him and pulled back to look in his eyes. "I'm nineteen years old now. Doesn't that change things for you?"

  "Yeah," he said on an exhale. "You're too old to play games, carny-girl. Hop up and go to bed."

  "Don't treat me like a child." She skimmed her lips over his. "You want me."

  "I want a lot of things." His tongue came out and tasted his lips where she'd pressed hers, and made her stomach quiver. "Most things I want will get me in trouble and then who'd look out for you."

  "If you don't want anyone to know, we could keep it a secret," she whispered, rubbing the pad of her thumb over his bottom lip.

  His eyes softened. "I'm Forty years old. At your age, you don't know what life is going to give you. Don't throw it away on me. I'm old enough to be your father. I brought you here to save you from yourself."

  "Don't lie. Not to me." Her spine straightened. "You kept me for you, and I've known that from the second day you came back to the carnival to see me."

  "You were sixteen."

  "Don't give me that bullshit excuse about my age." She pushed away from him and stood. "I offered myself to you the night we arrived in Montana, and you turned me down, saying I was too young. I tried again six months later when I turned seventeen, and you went downstairs and fucked Leslie. Leslie, Battery. Let that sink in. At eighteen, I stopped keeping track of how many times you left me to seek the comfort of one of the women who hang around the club. As if fucking someone else made you forget about me."

  "Watch your mouth," he muttered.

  "You're going to go back downstairs and have sex with that woman you were flirting with earlier, but it'll be me you're thinking about and wanting." She shook her head, trembling with anger. "Can't you see that I haven't changed?"

  He stood and walked over to the fridge, grabbed a beer, and tossed the cap on the counter. She followed him to the other side of the room.

  "You've changed." Battery raised his gaze and the anger radiating from him set her back. She shook her head. No, she hadn't.

  She still wanted him. Her crushing, her admiration, her fascination, whatever the connection she had with him had never lessened but had grown stronger. If anything, she wanted him more and she understood her body's reasons for the way she reacted to him better because she'd matured. She wasn't a young girl pretending or curious.

  At sixteen years old, she knew the basics about sex. At seventeen, she had a good idea what sex would feel like and wanted to experience what it'd be like with Battery. At eighteen, she wanted the closeness she would only find with him. Deep in her heart, she willingly accepted that Battery would be the only man in her life.

  She'd been miserable, frustrated, and aroused for years wanting him.

  "I love you, Battery," she whispered.

  "You love me because I take care of you. I put a fucking roof over your head. I bought you a car. I gave you a family." His arms bulged underneath his T-shirt, and he banged his fist against the counter. "You love me like a father, and carny-girl, there is nothing fatherly about how I feel about you. You are not ready for me. You probably will never be ready."

  She braced her hands on the island counter and leaned toward him on the opposite side. "That's what you don’t understand, Batt. I am ready. I don't know how many ways I can tell you or show you."

  He stared into her eyes, and like he'd done a million times, he shut down and pushed away from the counter. "Don't wait up for me."

  Frustrated by her lack of ability to convince him what they felt for each other wasn't wrong, she whispered, "Whatever woman you'll end up with tonight downstairs will not be me. None of them will be me, and you won't get what you need from any of them."

  The door slammed shut. She flinched.

  Whatever made him approach her at the carnival, to come back, to take her away, still resided inside of him. Living with him was a sweet blessing and a heartache. How long would he make both of them suffer?

  She groaned and fisted her hands. There was nothing she could do to convince him that she was sincere and understood the ramifications of him sleeping with her while she was under his roof. Battery had the thought that he was untouchable and answered to no one, including her. He refused to listen.

  The music downstairs played faintly in the background. Bree pursed her lips. Or, was there something she could do?

  Why was she hiding upstairs in the house, sulking over Battery while he joined everyone else in Ronacks and lived it up?

  She walked around the island, opened the drawer, and removed a pack of Battery's smokes. He'd never let her drink, but he couldn't stop her from smoking anymore. He couldn't stop her from going downstairs and dancing. He couldn't stop her from being in sight to tempt him to keep his hands and his dick away from the women he used to try to forget about how he felt toward her.

  Chapter Eight

  Bree stood on the pool table, gyrating her hips, her arms above her head, and her hair all over the fucking place. Battery remained leaned back in the chair with Jana straddling his lap facing him. The same position he was in when Bree marched into the room, and he damn sure wasn't going to move because she decided to join the club after her party.

  Rod rolled his empty beer bottle across the table to Hazel, a friend of Jana's, and said, "I'll get Raelyn to take Bree out of the room."

  "No, let her be. It's her birthday," said Battery. He wanted to know how far Bree would go to prove how grown up she was at nineteen years old and what she'd do to convince him she was ready to get involved with him.

  Jana forgotten, he gave Bree all his attention. She'd never understand that it wasn't her age that stopped him from putting her in the role of his woman.

  Jana's hands wandered up under Battery's beard to his neck. He grabbed her wrist and put her hand on his cock. His gaze never left Bree. In his mind, Bree was his. She'd always been his.

  His men knew Bree was off-limits. He'd kill anyone who touched her, and hoped that knowing they risked their membership with Ronacks and their life would keep them at a distance from Bree. He'd proven his word was law more than once.

  Rod twisted open another cap on a beer bottle and flicked it across the room. "I'm taking Hazel and heading home."

  "Ride with purpose, man," said Battery, continuing to watch the action happening around the pool table.

  Bree pulled Raelyn up on the table, and together they aimed their ass toward each other and shimmied, twerked, and teased the men.

  "I'll be around tomorrow night to take the run." Rod stood and leaned down to the side of Battery. "If you need me before then, give me a call."

  Battery nodded. Late tomorrow, he'd leave for a few hours and come back with the money owed to the club and divvy salaries out to each member, clear down to the prospects who would get a glimpse of what life could be like if they patched into Ronacks.

  Each member of Ronacks worked doing spot jobs at the bars, garages, and wherever anyone else needed a hand or security within the club's territory. Nobody got paid individually. Payments were due at the end of the month, and the money divided equally among the members and officers. In return, Ronacks gave security to each business that sought their help, and the MC kept the riffraff out of their territory.

  His job was to make
sure the club survived, provided, and co-existed, and so far, they were doing okay, even putting some money away.

  Jana leaned forward and put her lips on his ear. "Let's go in the back. I'll make you feel good, baby."

  Her hair got in his view. He pushed her away. "Go find someone else."

  Jana pouted, begging him silently one more time. He ignored her, wondering where the fuck his MC brothers found the women that hung around his house. They needed to learn how to take no for an answer.

  That went for Bree, too. She always pushed him and never backed down once she had her mind made up.

  Jana moved off him, and he stood. Any minute, his MC brothers would settle down, either at the house, outside, or go home and take what the women who hung around were freely offering them. He wanted Bree out of the way where she wouldn't get it in her mind to push him too far. In fact, now that she was nineteen years old, maybe he should put her on the roster and let her work alongside the wives of the Ronacks members in town. Having her around less, he'd find it easier to tell her no.

  He walked across the room, grabbed Bree's waist from behind and lifted her down off the table. Like a snake, she turned and pressed her breasts against him and continued dancing, rubbing, turning him on.

  His cock hardened, and the eyes gazing back at him held the knowledge of what she was doing to him that he couldn't ignore. They were his carny-girl's eyes. Trusting. Begging.

  Except, they were no longer innocent. She was hotter than shit and feeling the feelings with the maturity to entice him and had him throwing out his reasons for keeping his hands off her.

  He grasped her upper arms, putting a stop to her dancing. Then, he lifted her up while he bent his head down and whispered in her ear, "You think you're not scared of me?"

  Bree's body stilled. "Never," she said with more vehemence than he'd ever heard in her voice.

  His chest tightened, and his balls ached in pleasure at the sultry way she drew out the word. Her soft hair skimmed the back of his hands, and he had to force himself not to haul her over his shoulder.