I Like Big Dragons and I Cannot Lie (The I Like Big Dragons Series)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  I looked at her in outrage.

  “The brother! Keifer’s mine!” I exclaimed in affront.

  Brooklyn laughed.

  “So you what…saw him and asked him to come jump in your pants?” She asked with a leer.

  I narrowed my eyes at her.

  “No. Yes. Well, maybe. I’ve only known him a few days,” I finally settled on.

  That was okay, wasn’t it?

  Then she wouldn’t think I was keeping anything from her because I hadn’t known him long enough, right?

  Wrong.

  She knew me.

  When you start nursing school, you form a bond with your classmates.

  A bond that lets the other know which role you’ll take.

  Kind of like you spread the ass cheeks while I do the wiping kind of bond.

  It was forged out of necessity, and we knew each other better than we knew ourselves.

  Which was why she didn’t buy the whole, ‘I’ve only known him for a while’ spiel.

  “Blythe,” she sighed tiredly. “If you’re not ready to talk about it yet, then just say that. Don’t lie to me, though.”

  The elevator doors opened, and I settled on a little bit of truth.

  “He’s a part of The Dragon’s Warriors MC,” I told her hastily as she walked quickly out of the elevator to allow a man in a wheelchair to come in.

  I followed behind her as I told her that, and she whirled around.

  “Do you know who they are?” she asked suddenly.

  My brows furrowed.

  “Yeah, why?” I asked.

  I’d actually looked up the MC in my spare time today and was surprised that they actually had a website. They also had a riding schedule, a fundraising page for the community, and volunteer events that they’d be attending.

  “They’re…they’re dragon riders. Like real ones!” She whispered frantically.

  I blinked.

  “Yeah,” I said slowly. “So?”

  Her eyes widened. “So? Do you know how bad they are?”

  I blinked.

  “Bad?” I parroted.

  She nodded fiercely. “My uncle Joseph goes on and on about how bad they are. How evil they are, and what they do to the world. They’re bad people and the dragons are bad, too.”

  I was shaking my head before she’d even finished.

  “They’re not bad people,” I denied, my stomach tightening in realization that my best friend didn’t understand. “They’re actually really good. I promise. I wouldn’t be with Keifer if he were bad.”

  She worried her lip.

  “I only know what my Uncle Joseph tells me, and I do trust your judgment. But please be careful before you get too far in and can’t get yourself back out again,” she whispered.

  She was whispering now, because Keifer was on his bike directly in front of us, watching the two of us converse in low whispers.

  He didn’t get up and come over, though, and I was thankful he gave me that.

  Brooklyn was a good person, but she’d been raised in an Amish commune, of all places.

  She’d been shunned after her Rumspringa when she didn’t return to her family and went to school to become a nurse instead. She hadn’t been back since.

  Her Uncle Joseph was the only family member to have any contact with her, and that was only because he himself had been shunned, and knew what it felt like.

  But it was obvious that her uncle had been feeding her garbage and not being much of a friend in her time of need.

  “Do you want to meet him?” I asked quietly.

  Brooklyn’s brown eyes widened, and I could swear that she was trembling.

  When she didn’t answer, I smiled and took hold of her hand.

  “Come on, you’ll love him,” I urged, pulling her the rest of the way to Keifer.

  Keifer’s eyes took everything in as we walked towards him, and he smiled once his eyes caught onto my new mating tattoo on my wrists.

  Causing him to look down at his own with a small smile on his face before looking back up.

  The entire time, I could feel Brooklyn dragging her feet.

  Had she really not wanted to do it, though, I knew she would’ve said no. She was good at saying no.

  I, on the other hand, wasn’t. Which hinted why I was here with Keifer in the first place, because it was obvious that most sane people wouldn’t have gone with a man they didn’t know who was telling her how to control her powers.

  “Hey, baby,” Keifer murmured softly once we were close enough.

  He dismounted his bike, a different one than before, and stood up to his full height.

  I felt Brooklyn tense, and her feet start to drag even more, but she made it to him and stopped slightly to the left of my right shoulder.

  “Hey, Keifer,” I whispered happily.

  Keifer’s eyes smiled down at me, and then moved to Brooklyn before going back to me.

  One brow was raised in question, and shrugged. “I wanted you to meet Brooklyn Abernathy, my best friend in the entire world. Brooklyn, this is Keifer Vassago.”

  Brooklyn’s mouth dropped open, and I had to smother the urge to laugh.

  Yeah, if you’re not getting it by now, Vassago was a huge name around Dallas, and hell, even in the entire Northern Hemisphere.

  “Nice to meet you, Brooklyn Abernathy,” Keifer nodded formally.

  Brooklyn gave him a small smile. “Nice to meet you too, Mr. Vassago.”

  Keifer grinned, “Call me Keifer.”

  Brooklyn swallowed. “Call me Brooklyn.”

  “Brooklyn wanted to meet the man that I disappeared off the face of the Earth for,” I teased.

  Brooklyn denied it, but I could tell it was only halfhearted. She really did want to meet Keifer.

  She was protective over the few friends that she had, having known what it felt like to lose those she called hers.

  “That would be me,” Keifer rumbled. “I’m sorry to have caused you undue worry. I’ll be sure to have Blythe call you, have I a need to kidnap her again.”

  Brooklyn burst out laughing, and I knew Keifer had broken through.

  I winked at him before pulling Brooklyn into my arms.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow for the big test!” I called with false cheer.

  Tomorrow was the final test of our entire nursing career before finals, and from what we’d heard, it was also the hardest.

  Brooklyn was a fucking beast, though, and usually had no problem learning the material.

  I, on the other hand, didn’t absorb it as easily as she did, and I was always forcing myself to sit down and study when I really, really didn’t want to.

  “Make sure you make some notecards. And you need to make sure to bring your clinical notes for her to sign off on. Okay?” Brooklyn whispered into my shoulder.

  I patted her back. “Yes, Mom.”

  Brooklyn punched me in the leg before she sighed. “See you tomorrow. It was nice to meet you, Keifer. Make sure she studies.”

  Brooklyn left, and Keifer wrapped his arm around me as he watched her go.

  “You got a good friend, there,” Keifer promised with assurance. “I could tell she didn’t want to come over here, but I knew she’d do it for you. Take care of her. She’s sad.”

  I blinked and turned into his arms. “How do you know she’s sad?”

  He gestured to her as she walked away. “The way she walks. She feels sad when she talks. I don’t know. I just know.”

  I blinked, and shook my head. “She’s Amish… well she was Amish. Hell, I don’t know what that is anymore. When she came of age, she went out on her Rumspringa—when all Amish youth go out to get some life experiences—except she didn’t want to go back after it was all said and done, and she lost her family. I think she’s upset about not being able to see her little sister most of all.”

  Keifer made a sound of agreement. “Nobody deserves to lose their family, Dr
akina.”

  I blinked. “Drakina?”

  Keifer nodded and turned to mount his bike before answering.

  “Drakina is what dragons call their mates. Seems fitting, doesn’t it?” He asked with a smile.

  I nodded in understanding.

  “Yeah, I guess it does,” I handed him my bag.

  He stowed it in the saddle bags, and offered me his hands.

  “Hop on, Drakina,” he ordered with a wink.

  I smiled, took his hand, and ‘hopped on.’

  He started the bike up and yelled over his shoulder. “I have a few people I’d like you to meet!”

  I leaned forward and gave him a kiss on his shoulder since it was the only thing I could reach.

  “Sounds good, Dragon,” I teased.

  His eyes were alight with humor as he looked at me over his shoulder.

  “Seems fitting, too,” he murmured before he roared out of the parking lot.

  Chapter 11

  95% of the time when I’m smiling, it’s over something I said, not over something you said.

  -Blythe to Brooklyn

  Blythe

  We arrived at an enormous warehouse off the Old East Side twenty minutes later.

  Instead of stopping at the front door, like I’d assumed he was going to do, someone opened the massive front door a crack, and Keifer rode straight in.

  Since it was daylight, we hadn’t had the light on.

  Therefore, when we got inside the large garage, it was pitch black and I couldn’t see a freakin’ thing.

  Squeezing Keifer a little more tightly, I waited with bated breath to see what we were going to do next.

  When the engine turned off, the noise in the cavernous space was nonexistent, almost making my ears hurt with the lack thereof.

  “What’s going on?” I asked quietly.

  Or at least tried to.

  The whisper echoed off the walls of the garage, and I blinked as I heard a couple of deep chuckles.

  Closing my eyes, I willed there to be light when I opened them again and was pleased to see that there was as my eyelids parted.

  “Good girl,” Keifer said, patting my leg.

  I blinked.

  “What?” I asked in confusion.

  “I wanted you to light the way. So I told them not to,” he muttered, easing off the bike.

  Reluctantly, I let him go, and rose as well as I asked, “Them who?”

  Then I saw ‘them.’

  Nikolai, I knew.

  The other four gigantic men, I didn’t.

  All of them were really big guys, so when I say gigantic, I mean big.

  All of them were nearly Keifer’s height, and they were all quite muscular, also like Keifer.

  What made them differ from Keifer was that they seemed almost meaner.

  Less approachable.

  And they were all wearing something similar to what Keifer had on.

  They must’ve really been a bona fide motorcycle club.

  I looked around, half expecting to see club whores like they had on Sons of Anarchy, but I didn’t see a soul.

  Five men were staring at me, as if I was an intruder into the space that should only be occupied by people with testicles.

  Nikolai was the first to speak.

  “Blythe.”

  That was it.

  That was all he said. One single word, and it had zero inflection, so I couldn’t tell if it was a ‘Hi, Blythe, happy to see you’ or rather a ‘Blythe, I can’t believe you’re here. You suck.’

  So, settling for neutral. “Nikolai.”

  He didn’t smile, per se, but I could see his eyes sparkle slightly.

  The man at his side, a blonde behemoth with a smile that would make a killing on a toothpaste commercial, ordered, “Introduce us.”

  Keifer snorted. “From left to right you have Nikolai, Ford, Alaric, Jean Luc and Dorian.”

  That was it.

  Just names.

  And none of them said hi.

  Fun shit right here!

  So, like the stubborn ass I was, I didn’t say anything either.

  Instead, I crossed my arms across my chest, and widened my stance for comfort. Then stared right along with them.

  We continued this for a few long moments before Keifer sighed.

  “They’re testing you, Blythe,” Keifer explained.

  “Hmmm,” I surmised. “That’s cool. Do you think I could go sit down somewhere and read? I have a new book that was delivered to my Kindle today, and since I can see this isn’t going to go any further than this, I’d like to do that now, please.”

  He rolled his eyes, and I heard a few deep chuckles from the men, causing me to turn back to them with a scowl.

  The blonde that’d spoken earlier had a smirk on his face. “Running already?”

  Wanting nothing more than to smack that smirk off his face, I did what any sane girl would do, I walked forward and poked him in the chest.

  “Do you have a problem with me?” I snapped.

  His eyes widened slightly.

  “No,” he said finally.

  “Then why are you being so rude?” I asked.

  He outright laughed. “I like her, Dragon. She’ll do.”

  With that, he left, disappearing out into the back somewhere.

  That’s when I saw him.

  A man in the shadows.

  “Who’s that?” I whispered to Keifer.

  Keifer looked to where my eyes were pointing and grimaced.

  “That’s Ian. And you aren’t ever to be alone with him, do you understand?” He stated firmly.

  I blinked. “Uhh, yeah.”

  What the hell?

  Was this Ian guy a psycho or something? And if he was, what the hell was he doing here?

  “I’ll tell you about it tonight,” he mumbled, standing up tall and firmly at the same time grabbing my hand with his. “I just wanted you to meet the guys, and I needed to pick something up from my office here.”

  “What is this place?” I asked him, following behind him dutifully.

  “The back of the shop where I do all my mechanic work and customization. This place isn’t on the map, and only a few people know where this place is,” he explained gruffly.

  “Keifer,” Nikolai called from behind us. “Got a sec?”

  Keifer nodded and turned to me. “Go have a seat at the desk. I’ll be there in a second, okay?”

  I nodded. “Sure.”

  He turned and left, and I found myself in a large office that looked more like a man cave than an office.

  There was a bar towards the back of the room with bar stools lining it, and a freaking couch and recliner.

  A small desk was in the very corner with a very large chair that looked like it could fit three of me very comfortably.

  Then there was the bathroom and shower area that had no walls surrounding it.

  “Wow,” I said, surprised.

  Moving toward the one door in the entire place, I opened it to find a plain room with a large table in the middle of it.

  Large wooden chairs surrounded the table, and as I moved closer to it, I was surprised to see that in the beautifully spun wooden legs, there looked to be intricately carved dragon scales running along the entire length.

  The table itself was beautiful, and so slick.

  Running my hands over it, I admired the craftsmanship.

  “Wow, this is freakin’ beautiful,” I murmured in awe.

  “Thanks,” a man muttered, startling me.

  I jumped and looked up to find the man from earlier, Ian, the one from the shadows, standing across from me, having come through a different entrance than I’d taken.

  “You made this?” I asked in surprise, completely ignoring Keifer’s earlier warning in my admiration.

  “Yeah,” he answered simply.

  “You did amazing work. My grandfather was a woodworker.
He used to make patterns for companies that would use them as molds for all kinds of things. He was fairly amazing,” I told him. “Woodworking takes some real talent.”

  “Grandfather dead?” He asked bluntly.

  I shook my head. “No. He has dementia. He’s at a senior care facility downtown. They let him work in their wood shop when he’s lucid.”

  He blinked. “What’s his name?”

  “Wendell Wyatt.”

  “The Wendell Wyatt? As in Wendell Wyatt Patterns?” The man asked in awe.

  I nodded. “That’s him. Do you know him?”

  He nodded briskly. “Wendell Wyatt is what other woodworkers in the business strive to be. Everybody knows him.”

  I smiled happily, remembering my grandfather’s earlier days, when he was happy and clear-headed.

  “I’m glad he’s remembered,” I whispered.

  “What are you doing in here, Blythe?” Keifer asked carefully from the doorway behind me.

  I turned to find Keifer staring over my head at Ian with suspicion.

  “I was just looking,” I told him worriedly.

  Was I not allowed to do that?

  “Come on. I got my papers. It’s time to go,” he said, not saying a word to Ian.

  I gave Ian a small wave. “Nice to meet you.”

  He nodded, his dark black hair bobbing with the movement.

  And his beautiful, nearly translucent, blue eyes took me in as I nodded back.

  “Same.”

  Keifer slammed the door behind me, startling me.

  “What?” I asked, crossing my arms.

  “I told you to stay away from him,” he growled.

  I shrugged.

  “I can take care of myself,” I defended.

  He narrowed his eyes.

  “Oh yeah?” He stalked forward.

  I nodded, taking steps back as he prowled ahead.

  My knees met the back of his desk, and he stopped when our knees touched.

  Then, without warning, he snapped his hands forward and captured my wrists, swinging me around and slamming my chest against the top of the desk.

  “Eeek!” I squeaked in surprise.

  He didn’t hurt me, but the suddenness of it all had me breathless.

  “So tell me how you can take care of yourself,” he snarled.

  I blinked in surprise at the ferociousness of his tone.

  “Keifer, what’s going on?” I asked, worry starting to seep into my voice.