“Jesus. Out of the cartel crap?”
“No, out. Julio is backing Lucas, taking over the Reapers and pulling them into the Disciples.”
“What the fuck? He can’t do that shit. This isn’t his business.”
“Running his shit is his business, and having two clubs fighting for his attention isn’t working for him. Dude, he fucking took out his brother and his mistress.”
“She gave him access to Bernardo, that’s all that was.”
“Yeah, I figure the same thing.” Tick shouted something in the background to Massy. “You coming down to get my girl? She’s getting on my last nerve.”
“She feeling okay?”
“Other than a sore ass, she’s fine.” I could imagine the shit-eating grin on his face when he made that boast. He would never harm Massy, if she sat tender it was because she’d wanted it that way. “She’s just getting antsy waiting for everything to go down. I shoulda sent her with our moms, she woulda been safe.”
“From Marcus maybe, but those two hens woulda pecked her to death.” I laughed.
“Mom loves her, especially now that she’s giving her a grandkid, and got the noose around my neck.” No matter how derogatory Tick made marriage sound, I’d never seen the son of a bitch so damn happy. “You found your girl?”
“Yeah. I found her. She’s fine.” I looked back at the cabin, through the window. Lucy stood in the kitchen drinking a bottle of water. The white tank top she wore barely covered her flat stomach, and her purple panties hid nothing from my view. Since when did she wear thongs?
“We’ll swing down this afternoon if Massy’s ready.”
“She’ll be ready.” Tick took a deep breath, letting it out slow into the phone. “Your girl better be worth all this shit.”
I kept my eyes glued to Lucy while she pulled her hair into a pony tail. The tank lifted up, almost showing the swell of her breasts. “Yeah. She is. See you this afternoon.” I didn’t wait for a reply before I hung up.
Lucy stood in front of the fridge, holding the door open, searching for breakfast. I hadn’t thought about eating, at least not about food. I slid up behind her at the fridge, wrapping my arms around her waist. She didn’t even jump.
“How’d your phone call go?” she asked without looking back at me.
“Good. You gonna make us breakfast?” I nuzzled the soft base of her neck, basking in her morning scent. Sex and sleep.
“Well, I’m not as stocked up as I thought I was. We have cereal or cereal on the menu.” Grabbing the milk, she shut the door.
“We can stop on the road.” I took the milk from her. There wasn’t enough for even one of us to have breakfast. If I hadn’t gotten to her, how long would she have gone before she ran out of food? That car of hers might have made up the mountain the first time, but I didn’t give it any credit to make it a second.
“Where are we going?” She stepped out of my grasp and turned to lean against the counter.
“After we pick up Massy, I’m taking the two of you up north. There’s a cottage that belongs to Massy’s grandmother. We should be okay tucked up there for a while. We’ll pick up provisions on the way. Tick will join us later when this all settles down.”
“I’ve never asked you about club business, but I’m asking now. What’s going on? Are you in danger from more than just Jayson and Marcus?” The little wrinkle in her brow tugged at me.
“Both of the clubs have been working with the cartel for a while now. We had to make the truce in order to do business with them because Bernardo, the one running shit for the Mexicans, didn’t want a turf war. Since then, both Marcus and Jayson have been trying to trip the other into doing something stupid, make the Cartel believe the other wasn’t honoring the truce. Julio—Bernardo’s brother—had some other grand plans. He got both of the MCs to try and take out Bernardo. Tick and I were the decoy, making Bernardo’s wife think we were taking out Bernardo so she could be with Julio, but Julio had the Disciples on standby taking out Bernardo and Carmella, his wife.”
“Shit. Like a really bad soap opera.” She gave me a sly smile. “How do you keep up with who’s on your side and who’s not?”
Good question. Marcus not doing shit about Jasper’s death played into everything, but I had no clue how. He seemed to be in the dark about Carmella being a target while we were down there. Tick didn’t think he knew about Lucas taking over both clubs. If he did, Marcus sure as hell wouldn’t be wasting time looking for me, he’d be hunting down Lucas.
“I take good notes.” I tapped the side of my temple. “It’s all up here.”
She rolled her eyes and gave a sexy laugh. “Whatever. Do I have time for a shower?”
I looked at my phone. “You have exactly two minutes to get your naked ass in the shower. I’ll be there in three.”
The pixie rolled her eyes again and sauntered past me, heading back to the room. I reached out and gave her ass a swat, enjoying the jiggle of her cheeks as she bounded down the hall and into the bathroom.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
LUCY
Biking down the highway, my arms wrapped around Mason, was the calmest moment I had in months. I snuggled closer to him as he revved the engine and picked up speed, and I’m pretty sure he did it on purpose whenever my arms started to slack around his middle. The man needed my touch almost as much as I needed his.
The decision to leave my car behind at the cabin had, of course, been his. I liked my little rust bucket, and I argued that he could fix it up for me if he thought it was such a death trap. In the end, he shook his head and told me to get on his goddamn bike if I knew what was good for me. I knew what was good for me, the bossy man pretending to glare at me from his motorcycle.
As much as he blustered, I knew he’d never lay a hand on me. Not in any way that didn’t make my insides melt. I let him have his way on the car thing; as much as I liked it, he was right. The thing barely made it up to the cabin. Besides, when he strapped my helmet on under my chin he did promise to come back for it later.
Taking an exit from the highway, Mason moved his hand from the handlebars and placed it on my thigh. I squeezed him even tighter, and I heard him laugh. “It’s okay, babe. Almost there.” He called back to me over his shoulder. “And I can handle this baby with no hands.”
“I believe you,” I quickly said into his ear before he got any bright ideas in that department. I still wasn’t used to being on the back of a bike, and empty country road or not, I had no interest in any parlor tricks while I was on it.
Twenty minutes later we pulled into the drive of a small ranch house. The screen door needed fixing, but other than that everything looked pristine. The flowers in the beds along the side of the house bloomed with confidence, and the fresh cut grass smell still lingered in the air. I took a deep breath when I climbed off the bike. It had been such a long time since anything felt close to a home, and this place smelled every bit of one.
Tick bounded out the front door before Mason stepped foot on the porch. “Hey.” He jerked his head to the side and Mason followed him around the house.
“Lucy, go on inside. Massy’s in the kitchen.” Mason peeked out from the corner of the house.
I found Massy sitting at the kitchen table holding a rag. She stared out the back window at the small yard, not making a sound.
“Hey, there.” I tried to sound pleasant, like we weren’t both worried and stressed out about what the men outside were talking about. When she turned to look at me, I gasped. A large gash ran down the side of her face. I noticed then the rag had blood on it. The wound had stopped bleeding for the most part, but the skin was still raw and jagged at the edges. Her eyes filled with tears.
“Did Tick do this?” I demanded, taking the rag from her and moving to the other side of her chair in order to get another look.
“No. Of course not. He’s still standing, isn’t he?” She tried to grin, but the movement must have hurt because she ended up cursing. “Jayson was here,” she sa
id through her hiss when I dotted the blood away from her cheek.
“Jayson did this?” I whispered, sinking into a chair and letting the weight of that hit me. Jayson was looking for me, and he knew I’d be with Mason. It only stood to reason he’d check Tick’s house. Who else would know where Mason ran off to, if not his best friend. “You need stitches.” I focused on the moment; I could let my guilt take me over later. The cut was ragged, but could still be stitched up. Jayson may not have let me go to school for nursing, but he couldn’t stop me from reading all the books I could get from the library, or watching every reality show involving emergency care.
“He came looking for Tick, but he wasn’t home. He’d gone to get me eggs. We didn’t have any and I wanted some scrambled for breakfast. He didn't believe me that Tick wasn’t here, and the screen door was locked. He punched through the screen and shoved me away.”
“Jayson’s an asshole. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” The tears built in my eyes.
“It’s not your fault.” Tick walked over to Massy and squatted down in front of her. “Plans have changed, baby. I’m going to take you two up north, after we get this looked at.”
“It’s already started to heal, Tick,” I spoke up, earning myself a glare from him. “If you wait much longer they won’t be able to stitch it properly. She needs to go now.”
“Take her.” Mason nodded. “We’ll wait here.”
Tick looked at his wife, the love and care showing clearly in his entire expression. His brow wrinkled with worry, while the rest of his body tensed with the immense anger he felt at his woman being hurt. And it was all my fault.
“Maybe it would be best if I just went up north alone,” I whispered.
“No.” Mason kept his anger at my comment from reaching his voice, but I could see it in his eyes. “Don’t suggest it again.”
“Jayson did this because of me.” I pointed at Massy.
“Hon, this ain't your fault. This is his doing, not yours.”
“He was here looking for me.” I wanted to sink lower in my chair, let it swallow me whole.
“Jayson was looking for Tick, not you.”
“If I hadn’t run, he wouldn’t have come here.”
“Maybe not. But if you had stayed, he wouldn’t have stopped at only this on you.” She touched the ragged cut on her cheek. “The man is out for blood. He’s crazed. He kept muttering something about Julio. He’s either coming or he’s already here. I couldn’t make it out while he was talking to himself.”
“Still—”
“I don’t want to hear another fucking word about you going on alone. Do you get me?” Mason didn’t move toward me, he just stood at the other end of the room. The anger radiated off him. Tick shook his head.
“Massy, get your purse. Let’s get to the doc and get you patched up.” He stood up and helped her from her chair. She still wore normal clothes, shorts and a tank top, but the little baby bump had started to peak through. “Then I’m going to fucking kill Jayson.”
“You’ll have to get in line,” I muttered as they made their way from the kitchen.
Mason stood glowering at me until the front door closed. Then he pounced. “What part of no more running confused you?” He nearly shouted. Two months ago, having him towering over me with such angry eyes would have made me nervous. But I was tired. Tire of running. Tired of being scared.
“It’s not running when you know where I am. I didn’t say I was going to run away. I said it might be best if I was not with you guys right now. Jayson’s lost it.”
“Yeah, and not just about you. His being here had more to do with the shit I was telling you about with the cartel than about you. If he finds you, that will be a bonus, but he’s tracking down anyone who might be able to join him and go against the cartel when they get here. Word’s out about Julio helping Lucas take over the Disciples. It’s only a matter of time before they go over to Marcus and take him out, too.”
“Wouldn’t your VP be next to take over your club?” The MC life still confused the hell out of me, so many rules and rituals—I couldn’t keep them all straight.
“If the Reapers don’t agree to band together with the Disciples, they’ll just be wiped out.”
“Why would they do that?” I sounded ignorant, even to myself.
“Because they can.” He shrugged.
“Mason, where’s your leather?”
He took Massy’s seat and pulled me into his lap. “It’s where it belongs,” he said, wiping a strand of hair from my face.
“What the hell does that mean?” I swatted his hand away. Playing with my hair distracted me, and I wouldn’t let him go there, not yet.
“It means, I left it behind. I’m getting out, and leaving it at the club at the table signifies my intentions.”
“Your president is just going to let you walk?”
“We aren’t some street gang.” He let out a little chuckle, but I could tell it still wasn’t as easy as all that. “I left the cut behind to let him know I’m getting out. Now I just wait for the next club vote to get voted out with creds or with blood.”
“Oh that sounds reassuring.” I rolled my eyes, earning me a pinch to my hip.
“It just means that the rest of the club will vote if I leave with good standing or if I leave with no credibility—I’d have remove some of my ink, never claim the club as brothers anymore, that sort of thing.”
“Does any of that matter with this Julio guy coming up here to tear everything apart?”
“Probably not.” He kissed my shoulder, pulling the neckline of my dress to the side and kissed my collar bone.
“Tick and Massy could walk back in—” I tried to shove his hands away when he started to unbutton my dress, but he wouldn’t be deterred.
“It will take at least an hour, and that’s if the clinic is empty. Now stop getting in my way. I want to see those tits.” He finished unbuttoning my dress, pushing the thin material to side. “I haven’t touched you in at least three hours.” A slow wink had me grinning. He stared at my breasts for a moment, looking contemplative. Cupping both breasts in his hands, he thumbed my nipples, bringing them to full attention. “Your body knows who it belongs to. It responds to my touch so easily.” I couldn’t argue with that, if the man said jump I’d probably be powerless to stop my body from obeying.
“Don’t go getting too cocky, biker boy,” I teased. A piercing pain shot through my nipples as he pinched them hard for my comment. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” I hissed and he released me, replacing his fingers with his mouth. He rolled my nipples with his tongue, and sucked with gentle tugs on each of my now engorged breasts.
With almost no effort, he hoisted me off his lap and onto the kitchen table. “Lean back.” He stood from his chair and hovered over me. My dress completely open, giving him access to my entire body, I obeyed him. My body couldn’t stop from wanting him, from needing every touch he gave.
He looked down at my panties and then back up at me. Before I could scoot out of his range, or protest, he reached down and tore them from my body.
I gasped. “That was my last clean pair.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
MASON
I held what was left of her panties in my hand. “We’ll buy you more,” I promised, and tucked the tattered material into my pocket. God she was fucking beautiful. Her full, heavy breasts rose and fell with anticipation, her nipples still wet from my tongue.
I shoved her thighs open, letting me get a better view. She leaned back a bit further, planting her feet on the table and opening to me even more. Her pussy already glistened with desire. “Such a good girl for me today.” I grinned down at her.
She nodded and braced herself on her elbows so she could still see me when I moved lower. I spread her wet folds apart and gently teased her with my tongue. Her pussy was wet, dripping with her need for me. The scent of her arousal was nearly intoxicating, but still nothing compared to her taste. I could get lost in her forever.
/> I buried my tongue into her slit, savoring her moans as I pushed my tongue further into her. My own body responded to her as easily as hers. I told her over and over that her body belonged to me, but the truth of it was she owned me just as much.
“I could do this all day,” I murmured against her pussy, kissing her folds and licking her slit. I moved my tongue to flick at her clit, and she arched her back, shoving her pussy closer to my face. I didn’t want to tease her anymore. I wanted her to come, hard. I wanted her to lose control and scream out my name.
“Mason,” she said, not yet loud enough. Her hands dove into my hair, and she nearly sat up when my tongue began to circle her clit with more force, and my fingers sank into her pussy. I licked faster, pumped my fingers faster. “Fuck.” She breathed faster. Her entire body tightened, she was so close. I groaned, and buried myself further into her pussy. Pushing her over that edge I knew she wanted to go over.
Mason: Inked Reapers MC Page 19
