Girth (Marked Skulls MC Book 1)

by Savannah Rylan

  Joining the MC that dad and Bryce belonged to was never my plan. Even though I had grown up with its influence around me, I didn’t know how to operate in that environment. Bryce was heavily involved. He was just a few months away from getting patched and being made a full member of the club. He was hoping to be patched before he left for his next tour in Iraq but things didn’t work out like he wanted. I’d stayed away from the club. I wanted an education. I wanted a career. But when Bryce died, everything changed. I felt a need to follow his footsteps in the military, so I enlisted shortly after his funeral. What would he have wanted from me now? I bit back a laugh. He probably would have wanted me to join the club. Axel had brought up a good point.

  “You want me to join as a full member?” I asked him and he stepped towards me again. He placed his hands on my shoulders and smiled at me, reminding me of the way dad used to smile proudly at me. I looked around the bar slightly. Being in the club was going to be the closest I could be to my family.

  “We can patch you in right now if you agree, Gunner. Given your lineage, you wouldn’t need to prove yourself during the initiation process. We’ve been waiting for you to return from your tour. We’ve been waiting to have another Alton in the Club. This is what your father would have wanted for all of us,” Axel said and he pinched the flesh on my shoulders with his hands. Then he let me go, stepping back to look at me some more.

  “Gunner, you don’t need to think about this. This is your destiny, man,” Glock said beside me and when I looked at him, he had an encouraging expression on his face.

  I turned to Axel again and took in a deep breath. When I was younger I had fought to stay away from the club, because of what I thought it would make me become. But now, that I had been to war, and have killed, maybe this was the right path for me. Maybe it was the distraction from my thoughts that I desperately needed.

  “Okay, let’s do it,” I said and a cackle of congratulations erupted in the bar. As though all these men were waiting around to hear my response.

  People thumped my back, hugs were exchanged and Glock didn’t leave my side. Axel followed my every movement with his watchful eyes as I took steps into my new role as a full member of the Bad Disciples.

  “C’mon men, let’s get him patched up,” Axel finally interrupted the celebrations and I nodded. Might as well strike while the iron is hot, I thought.

  ***

  “You’re finally one of us,” Glock was saying, as we all sat around the bar drinking. The patching ceremony was over and now it was time to celebrate.

  “He was one of us since he was born,” Tank said, crushing the can of beer in his hand as he emptied the last drop down his throat. I’d known these guys as acquaintances because of their association with dad and Bryce, but now I was getting to know them personally. They all respected dad, he was the one who had brought them under his wings as young new members of the club when they were in their late teens. They owed their lives to dad and were treating me like royalty.

  Tank’s long brown hair shook, which he had tied into a ponytail, as he shook his head while guzzling another can of beer.

  “You must have so many stories from before our time!” Hunter said, looking at me eagerly with his baby-blue eyes. He was the youngest one in the group, barely twenty-six. I was grateful for Hunter, it meant that I wasn’t going to be the youngest one around. I was older than him by a year.

  “Dad didn’t talk much about the MC with me. He probably never thought I would join the group,” I said, sipping on my own beer.

  “Bet he’s smiling now!” Sniper said with a laugh and Glock thumped my back encouragingly again.

  “We all knew and loved your dad, Gunner. He was an inspiration,” Tank spoke again and I wondered if this guy ever smiled. He had a consistent poker face, which made him the perfect bouncer for the bar.

  “And your brother…Bryce was a brother to us too,” Glock added and I nodded my head at them. I hadn’t spoken about dad and Bryce this much in a very long time…long enough for me to replace the wounds of their memories with new fresh ones.

  “We’re heading out to another bar,” Sniper stood up and I noticed that the others in the bar, including Axel were picking up their leather jackets and preparing to leave.

  “Let’s go, Gunner,” Glock said as he stood up and I emptied the remaining beer down my throat.

  “You guys go ahead. I’m going to hit the sack early tonight,” I said and tried to smile at them so they wouldn’t see just how weird I was feeling. At Church, with people who knew dad and Bryce so well. It was like I was walking around their ghosts. I needed some time and space to straighten out my thoughts.

  “Are you kidding?” Hunter said and it was Axel who stepped in then.

  “Let him be, boys. Gunner, we’ll see you when we see you. You’re dismissed for the night,” Axel said and I tipped my head at him again.

  “Night,” I said and left the bar, thankful to be able to step outside again. I watched as the others got on their noisy motorcycles and started riding away. I smiled and waved at Glock as I put on my own helmet and jumped up on my bike.

  Even though dad and Bryce had kept me away from the club, they had damn well taught me the biker way of life. Hell, I had been on my first bike before I even knew how to walk. Maybe this was what I needed. I had the tattoos, I had the bike and I had a family legacy…maybe joining the Bad Disciples was what was missing from my life and I just didn’t know it.

  I rode away from the bar, in the direction of my apartment, with the voices of the men ringing in my ears. This had to be for the best. I could feel close to my family again, especially since they had welcomed me in with open arms.

  I slowed down just a block away from my apartment, when I noticed that PJ’s was still open. It was a small dive bar I used to frequent before I left for Afghanistan. It was a quiet place with a crowd who liked to keep themselves to themselves.

  Who was I kidding? There was no way I was getting any sleep. I decided to stop and have a drink by myself before I went back to the apartment.

  Parking my bike along the pavement, I walked into the bar with my helmet still on. I took it off my head as I went straight towards the counter, and that was when I saw her. Our eyes met and I knew she was the sexiest thing I had ever set my eyes on.

  Chapter 4

  Brooklyn

  I knew I was tired, but was I actually that tired that my jaw nearly dropped when the handsome stranger walked into the bar? He shook his head when he took his helmet off and I noticed his closely cropped dark brown hair and the way his blue eyes shone dangerously in the dim light of the bar.

  I had always prided myself in not embarrassingly drooling over guys, but this one was a completely different ball game. It was like he had stepped off the front glossy cover of a men’s health magazine. He was tall with a ripping broad chest. He was wearing a thin white cotton t-shirt and even under his black leather jacket, I could see the way his muscles moved.

  “You’re new,” he said, sitting down with a thump on one of the bar stools in front of me. I forced myself to recover my voice, blinking furiously to make myself go back to normal. His cheekbones were high and chiseled and he had a perfectly square jaw with a light dusting of a late-night shadow. I caught the glimmer of the metal tags that hung from a chain around his neck.

  “I’m Brooklyn,” I said and realized that was not what he asked. He grinned, and the corners of his lips stretched as he placed his helmet on the counter beside me.

  “And new,” I added quickly and he watched my every movement from under heavy lidded eyes. His gaze was piercing and yet he looked bored. I was giddy with squealing excitement inside, like a teenager who had just spotted a rock star.

  “We’re closing up soon,” I said to him, as he flipped over a glass beside him.

  “Hit me with your best whisky,” he said instead, ignoring my statement. I gulped, and then got the bottle and poured into his glass. He drank it in one quick gulp and banged the glass
down on the counter again.

  “So, how new are you?” he asked and I shrugged my shoulders, trying to avoid looking directly into his eyes.

  “Couple of months,” I replied, even though I knew exactly how long it had been. I took up this job a week after I’d heard the news about Luke. Of course, this guy didn’t need to know about it.

  “I’ve been away,” he said and placed a hand on the bottle I was still holding. Gently, he pried the bottle away from me and poured some more whisky into his glass. I watched him closely, the shape of his nose, the sharpness of his jaws…how powerful he looked.

  “I have to close up soon,” I repeated myself and he looked up at me again. His gaze was de-stabilizing. Like he was shooting arrows at me or something. Just his stare was enough to tighten the knots in my belly and I pressed my legs together.

  “You said that already, Brooklyn,” he said, with a grin on his face and I could have been knocked over by a feather. When was the last time a man had this effect on me?

  “It’s because I mean it,” I said and he poured himself some more. He was drinking like a fish and taking it like a pro. If he was drunk already, I couldn’t tell. His eyes were clear and his words weren’t slurring. What was this guy made of?

  “Gunner,” he said and snapped me out of my fantasies about him.

  “What?” I said and he smiled at me again.

  “That’s my name. Gunner,” he said and held the glass to his thin lips. I watched him sip, the way the liquid travelled down his throat and my mouth parted. I pressed my legs together to stop the throbbing in my core. How did he have this effect on me? Why was I picturing him naked? I didn’t even know this guy!

  “You can’t drink anymore,” I said with a snap and pulled the bottle away from him. Even though I had my back turned to him as I arranged the bottles, I could sense his gaze on me. When I turned my head to the side, I realized that he had been staring at my ass. A part of my body there was ample amount of. I hadn’t put on those tight jeans to purposely accentuate my curves, but I knew it was working in my favor now.

  “Are you going to tell me what to do?” he said in a slow drawling voice and I turned to him again, my lips turning dry the more we looked at each other.

  “When you’re in here, yes,” I said and that same seductive smile crept up on his face. I was imagining my body slamming into him. Picturing him lifting me up on his shoulders, how his muscles would clench when he did it.

  “Fair enough,” he said and stood up from the stool, slapping dollars down on the counter. I felt a sudden harsh tug in my soul. He was going to leave. I wasn’t going to see him again. What did I want from him anyway?

  “C’mon…didn’t you say you were closing up?” he said and I crossed my brows in confusion. Gunner smiled and walked towards the door of the empty bar.

  “I’ll close up for you, and you can start clearing away,” I heard him say, while I remained stock-still. What was going on?

  “These the keys?” he asked, picking up the keys that were hanging from a hook behind the door. I gulped and nodded my head, then heard the snap of the lock. He had locked us inside, just the two of us. Even though I should have been worried or suspicious, I couldn’t help my pulse from quickening, the back of my neck from burning hot with desire.

  “I don’t usually do this sort of thing,” I said meekly, fully conscious of what was going to happen in the next few moments. Gunner grinned, taking steps in my direction.

  “There’s a first time for everybody,” he said.

  ***

  My body quivered when he came near me. He had walked around the counter and was now inches away from me and I had gone too far to stop it now.

  “Gunner…” I said his name like I knew him well, even though I didn’t know what else to say. He stopped for a second, gave me a chance to finish the sentence and when I didn’t, he came closer to me.

  “You look like you want to forget, just like I do,” he growled, in a voice deep enough to send shivers down my spine. I had no idea what he was talking about, but as far as I was concerned; he had hit the nail on the head. I wanted to forget about losing my brother.

  My lips parted of their own accord and he reached out and grabbed my jaws tightly. I winced and he yanked me closer to himself.

  “Stop me if you want now, Brooklyn, because after this there’s no turning back,” he said, his face was set as hard as stone. I gulped but I didn’t stop him. I wanted to feel something, anything, and I was ready for him. I had been ready for him since he walked into the bar. As crazy as this was, it was actually happening.

  “Good girl,” he said and he lowered his mouth to mine. Our lips met in a sizzle and he pushed his tongue into my mouth furiously, like he was angry about something and I tasted the whisky on his breath. Instinctively, my arms wrapped tightly around his neck. As I accommodated his mouth, he pushed me, further and further till my ass pressed against the cold counter. He was leaning me over it, kissing me, exploring my mouth with his tongue.

  I could feel the hard-on in his jeans. His cock was throbbing in his pants, digging into my thigh as he pressed his body into me. While our mouths remained stuck together, his hands had found my breasts.

  I gasped when he squeezed, then pinched my pebbled nipples through the thin material of my t-shirt and lace bra. He must have been pleased with my reaction because he pinched my nipples again. I cried out in pleasurable pain and Gunner pulled his mouth away from me.

  “Isn’t this what you want?” he asked and before I could even react, he had started rolling up my t-shirt. My bare skin puckered up in the cool air as he revealed my breasts. He looked at them, and in one swift movement, he unhooked my bra… my ample big breasts with sensitive erect nipples, yearning for his mouth. I wanted him to suck on them. I needed him to suck on them, but he was hell bent on teasing me.

  I watched with my breath caught in my throat as he licked the tip of his forefinger. With his blue eyes sparkling, he touched my nipples, the smile on his face growing as I moaned. I could feel the wetness in my core, my throbbing aching clit in my jeans as I thrust my hips in his direction.

  This was so crazy and so unbelievable that I wanted him to just take me. I wanted to come and I could feel myself dangling over the edge. Gunner squeezed my nipples and I gasped.

  “Good girl,” he said it again and I could feel my knees shaking with desire. I wanted to see that cock. I wanted it inside me. He pulled me up in his arms again and set me on to the bar top as he took my lips into his mouth. This time, the kiss was even more hungry…if that was even possible, and my nipples brushed against his cold leather jacket and goosebumps erupted all over my skin.

  When he pulled away, I was gasping for breath but he had lowered his face. I arched my back, offering my breasts to him and he took my left nipple into his mouth. I weaved my fingers through his velvety hair as he sucked. I was half on the bar, half in his arms, my feet barely touching the floor as he licked and nibbled and sucked. It was some relief, even though my core had started protesting again. I needed that cock inside me.

  When his fingers dug into the skin of my belly, I shuddered.

  “I have to make sure you’re ready for me,” he said with an evil grin, as his fingers travelled down my bare belly and disappeared into my tight jeans. I remained in his arms, my back arched farther over the counter as his forefinger found it way between my legs. He seemed to be an expert at this and he knew how to stroke my clit, how to rub the nib so that my body was soaring. He didn’t stop roughly stroking me, bringing me to the edge while I rotated my hips, thrust it towards him. My gaze was pleading…I was begging him to fuck me without actually saying the words.

  Gunner smiled and released me. I was panting, my breasts heaving up and down as I supported myself on the counter with my hands. He stepped back, and started undressing. His jeans came off, then his jacket and t-shirt and he was finally down to his boxer briefs. I could see the mound where his cock was. He was definitely well endowed. Probably
a little too big and he must have seen my eyes widen, because he smiled again.

  “Are you worried?” he asked and pulled them down. His cock hung engorged and throbbing between his legs now and I bit down on my lip. He was bigger than anyone I had before.

  “No,” I said confidently and Gunner strode up to me again.

  “Good,” he said and hooking his fingers on my jeans, he unbuttoned it with one hand and pulled my jeans down in an expert flourish. How many jeans had he taken off like this? I thought with an unexpected pang of jealousy. What was I jealous about? I was having a one night stand with a stranger in a locked up dark dive bar. What kind of sexual standards was I going to hold him up to?

  My white lace panties followed next and now we were both naked, staring at each other.

  Gunner pounced on me, flattening my body on the counter where I served my customers. He yanked me into position, just so that my legs dangled off the edge but my hips were at level with his.

  He parted my legs and my cheeks flushed. He was looking directly in between my legs now and he held the insides of my thighs to keep my legs parted.

  “So wet,” he grumbled under his breath as he pinched my fleshy thighs and in the next moment, his fingers had found my clit again. He was stroking, playing and rubbing till there was wetness dripping down the inside of my thighs. I was moaning, arching my back, with my eyes pressed closed and biting down on my lip.

  Gunner was rough with me. He wasn’t interested in soft slow romantic sex. He was giving me what I had signed up for. Rough quick sex on the counter. His fingers slid up and down my clit, playing and teasing me till I was throbbing and enlarged and practically begging him with my moans.