Heaven Hill Series - Complete Series

by Laramie Briscoe

  “Thanks.” She kissed him again when they got to the car. “You always know how to make me feel wanted.”

  His eyebrows jacked up and down. “I can make you feel wanted one more time before we leave if you want.”

  “Jagger,” she groaned, smacking his stomach. “Not now.

  “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  Jessica sat in Layne’s dorm room, chewing on her bottom lip, completely unsure of herself. Had this been California and one of the clubs or premieres she went to there, she would know exactly how to dress. Here, in this little town, she wasn’t sure what to expect. Would anyone recognize her? If they did, would they make a big deal about it? She didn’t want to admit it to anyone, but she was very nervous, and Layne wasn’t here to calm her fears. He’d left a couple hours ago with nothing more than a ‘see ya later’.

  She was seconds away from calling Bianca and telling her that she’d decided not to do this when there was a knock at the door.

  “Be right there,” she said to the person on the other side as she stuck her feet in the shoes she’d decided to wear for the night. Walking quickly over to the door, she flung it open and was greeted by Meredith.

  “Damn girl, you look hot! You sure Layne’s not gonna be there?”

  “He told me he wasn’t.” She ran her hands down the leather leggings she wore. “Is it too much?”

  “Not at all, but you do look like a hot biker bitch,” Meredith giggled. “Is he coming to pick you up on his bike when he gets back in town?”

  “I have no idea,” she mumbled. There was a part of her that didn’t want to tell the other woman that he’d barely said ten words to her when he’d walked in from the shop earlier. “He just told me he’d see me later when he came to pick me up.”

  “I bet he rides his bike. Have you ridden on his bike with him yet?”

  The former reporter was full of questions, and it made Jessica a little leery. Not that she thought Meredith would tell someone where she was or inadvertently spill some information, inquisitive people just made her nervous now. “Not yet. Should that be something I look forward to?”

  “It’s my favorite place to be with Tyler besides next to him in bed. There’s something about riding on the back of the bike, your arms wrapped around your big strong man as he maneuvers the bike where he wants it to go.” She shivered. “You’ll understand as soon as you ride with Layne. Trust me.”

  For the first time since she’d showed up here, Jessica was jealous. She wanted to know what those feelings felt like. She wanted to share those things with Layne. Not wanting to depress herself, she plastered a smile on her face. “Are we ready?”

  “If you are.” Meredith grabbed her hand and led her out of Layne’s dorm. “Jagger’s gonna drive us over in Tyler’s truck, and then he’ll be there in case the guys don’t get back in time to take us home.”

  “Why wouldn’t they get home in time?” She was so unused to this life, had so many questions that she wasn’t sure she’d ever find all the answers.

  “Sometimes runs don’t go as planned.”

  The look on Meredith’s face made her wonder what that meant. “As in, they run into traffic on the way?”

  “That’s one way to put it,” she mumbled.

  “No, I’d really like to know. I’m here and in this for now, I’d like to know Layne’s day-to-day life. He’s so closed off about it.”

  Meredith wasn’t sure if she should get into this with Jessica. Layne was very private. He might not want his business shared, but if she was here, then she was a part of this life. “Sometimes they meet up with a rival gang, and they gotta get the hell outta dodge, if you know what I mean.

  Jessica wasn’t exactly sure she knew, but her imagination ran rampant. “That happens a lot?”

  “Sometimes,” Meredith sighed. “Look, if you want to know more, you’re gonna have to ask Layne. I don’t know what he wants you to know and what he doesn’t want you to know. The last thing I want to do is betray his friendship or lie to you, so I think this is a conversation the two of you need to have.”

  “That’s fair,” Jessica nodded. “And I appreciate that you’re looking out for him. Something tells me he hasn’t had a whole lot of that in the last few years.”

  A moment passed between the two of them. They came to an understanding before Meredith grinned. “Let’s get this show on the road. We’re about to show you how Kentucky girls party.”

  “A lot different than California girls,” Jessica giggled as they made their way to the main room.

  Jagger stood there, keys in hand. “Your chariot awaits, my ladies.”

  They laughed again as they made their way outside and climbed into the truck beside Bianca. Jessica knew if anything—these new friends of hers were going to show her the kind of time she’d only before written about.

  Chapter Nine

  “Can I get ginger ale in a beer mug?” Meredith asked Jasmine, the waitress who had come over to their table and who had previously worked with Bianca.

  Amused, Bianca and Jessica looked at each other, both snickering.

  “What?” She shrugged. “I want to at least feel like I’m part of the group. Just because I’m trying to get pregnant doesn’t mean I can’t have a good time.”

  “I hate to break it to you,” Bianca reached over and put her hand on Meredith’s arm, “but you’re ridiculous.”

  “Let her do what she wants,” Jasmine chided them. “What can I get for you?” She turned to Jessica.

  “Whatever Bianca’s having, I’ll have too.”

  Bianca glanced at the other woman, and then looked around the room. Jagger sat over to the side, talking with Steele, who was doing protection at the club for them on this night. “Oh, what the hell! Let’s do a Crown and Coke tonight.”

  Jasmine took their orders, promising to be back soon.

  “So what do you think?” Meredith asked as she glanced over at Jessica.

  That was a loaded question. Never in her life had she been in a place like this. She hadn’t been one of those Hollywood starlets that were known for going out and being crazy. No matter what racy roles she took as a youngster, she had worked hard to come out from underneath that shadow. That had always been the women she was compared to. Save for that one moment where she threw caution to the wind and let nude pictures be taken of her. “It’s interesting,” she finally answered.

  Meredith leaned closer. “Interesting good or interesting bad.”

  “Not sure yet,” she answered honestly.

  Jasmine came back with their drinks and proudly sat a frosty mug in front of Meredith. “Here ya go, do you want me to pour it for you too?” she teased, opening up the bottle of ginger ale.

  “No, smartass, I can pour it just fine.”

  The lights of the club went lower, and Jessica’s eyes were drawn to the stage. There she saw a scantily clad woman doing things to a pole she’d only seen in movies. Men sat at the edge, ogling her, pushing money towards her.

  “You did this?” She looked over at Bianca, her eyes wide.

  “Oh, no, I didn’t do that. I was a waitress like Jasmine. Having said that, I’ve had plenty of situations that I didn’t want to be in because men were so overbearing. That’s kinda where Heaven Hill came in. They started working protection for the club.”

  “Is that where you met Jagger?”

  Meredith snorted from her seat. “That’s an even better story.”

  “I kinda fell in Jagger’s lap,” she said carefully, crossing her legs under the table. “I may or may not have been half-way naked. Either way, we met each other, and the rest, they say, is history.”

  Jessica sat back against her seat and watched the two ladies. They were obviously very comfortable with one another. “Have you two known each other a long time?”

  “No,” they laughed.

  “It’s funny about these guys,” Meredith explained. “They make anyone who comes into this group part of the family, and it just sorta
stays that way.”

  “Even when you’re hesitant about it and you don’t think that you want any more family than what you already have,” Bianca finished dryly.

  There were so many things that Jessica was curious about. Most of it was Layne’s life that even she hadn’t been privy to. “So you’ve only known Layne for a short period of time?”

  “You could say that, but really I’ve known him since he started hanging around with the club. Since they worked protection here, I became acquaintances with most of the guys. But I didn’t get to know any of them on any kind of personal basis until Jagger and I hooked up.”

  “So have you ever seen him with anyone?” Jessica wasn’t sure why she asked that question, she really didn’t want to know the answer.

  “Can’t say that I ever heard him mention anyone but you,” Meredith told her. “And that wasn’t until very recently.”

  “And if you’re asking if he’s ever had a woman around the club, I haven’t seen it,” Bianca told her. “He must either be a monk or very discreet.”

  Jessica wasn’t sure that she believed either of those statements. “So what’s this about showing me a good time?” She grinned, putting on the face that she wore at most premieres. If they expected her to be the life of the party, then that’s what she would be.

  Layne was not in the best of moods. The last thing he had wanted to do was go on the run that had just ended. Combine that with the fact that he had to go to Wet Wanda’s to check on the ladies, and he was downright pissed off.

  “You want me to go in there and get ’em?” Tyler asked, as the two of them parked their bikes.

  “Jagger should be bringing their asses out here. He’s been with them all night,” Layne reasoned.

  “He texted me about an hour ago and told me he was gonna need some help.”

  What the fuck did that mean? “Fine, let’s just go get them and get the hell outta here.”

  Layne threw open the door to the club and inhaled deeply. What greeted him was not at all what he expected. Jessica and Bianca stood in the middle of the room, dancing and laughing. Meredith stood to the side, clapping her hands and egging them on. It wasn’t that they were being obscene, but others watched them. Where the hell was Jagger? He was supposed to be keeping an eye on them.

  His brown eyes swept the inside of the building, looking for his friend.

  “What the fuck?” Tyler’s deep voice asked as he came to stand beside Layne.

  “My thoughts exactly…where the hell is Jagger?”

  “He’s around here somewhere.” Tyler was much taller than Layne, and within seconds he’d spotted the other man. “There he is, right there in the corner. Shit’s under control.”

  Making his way over to the corner where Jagger lounged, Layne couldn’t take his eyes off the women dancing. As they got to where Jagger sat, he tore his gaze away from them. “How long they been doin’ that?”

  “Just started an hour or so ago.” Jagger shrugged, taking a drink from his beer bottle. “Nobody’s gotten out of line with them, and Meredith looks like she’s havin’ a good time, so I didn’t want to bust it up.”

  “What the hell is she doin’ drinking a beer?” Tyler asked, a frown marring his face. Since they had been trying to get pregnant, she’d completely stayed away from alcohol. Was this her telling him that she was giving up?

  He chuckled. “It’s ginger ale. She asked for it in a frosty mug, and they brought it out to her.”

  Layne couldn’t help the grin that tilted up the corner of his mouth. “That’s cute,” he admitted.

  “That’s my lady.” Tyler shook his head, finally walking over to where the girls stood, and picking her up in his arms.

  “You can’t take our friend away,” Bianca playfully yelled at him.

  “It’s past her bedtime,” he threw over his shoulder as he carried her out of Wet Wanda’s.

  “Well, guess that’s my cue.” Jagger finished his beer off and stood. “You gonna get Jessica home, or do I need to take her with me and B?”

  That was a good question. He wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do with her.

  “I can take her with me if you want me to.”

  Watching her closely, Layne noticed the smile that was on her face. It was one of pure pleasure; she’d had a really good time here with his friends. He hated to put an end to that, but there was a small piece of him that wanted to be a part of her good time too.

  “Nah, I got her. We’ll take the bike.”

  “You sure?” Jagger’s eyebrows raised almost into his hairline. Layne didn’t ever have women on the back of his bike.

  “I’m sure. Maybe it’ll give her a little thrill, ya know, being on the back of my bike.”

  It was on the tip of Jagger’s tongue to tell the other man that maybe he might be the one getting a little thrill, but he decided to let it go. “Well, we’re out. See ya later, man.”

  Layne watched, his eyes not missing anything as Jagger walked over to the group and bent down, whispering something in Bianca’s ear. The smile that spread across Bianca’s face told him that it’d probably been a little bit dirty. That was further evidenced by the way she leaned her body fully back against him, trusting him completely as his arms came around her midsection and clasped tightly before letting his teeth lightly nip her ear. They left without a backwards glance at anyone else. It wasn’t that Layne was jealous, not really. But he wanted someone that he could be at ease with like that. He wanted to be able to treat someone like that without having all the flashbacks and the confusion. Sighing, he walked over to where Jessica watched him just as carefully.

  “You wanna leave?” he asked, his voice low and tight.

  She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to or not. She was having a good time here, but she knew that good time was partially because of Bianca. “Sure,” she shrugged.

  “We’re gonna have to take my bike. Bianca and Jagger already left with the truck. You okay with that?”

  Did she really have a choice? “Yeah, whatever you want to do.”

  Pushing her in front of him, he directed them out to the parking lot and motioned towards his bike. “Have you ever ridden a bike before?”

  She gave him an “are you kidding” look, and he bit his lip to prevent the grin that wanted to break across his face.

  “Take that as a ‘no’.”

  “You’re seriously a genius. Did you know that?” she played along.

  “Put this on.” He shoved a helmet in her hands.

  Now would probably be a good time to tell him she had no idea how to do that, but she was already embarrassed enough. From the things she’d heard around the club, Jessica had figured when she finally got to ride Layne’s bike with him, it would be an awesome experience. This, however, was proving to be anything but. Her fingers shook as she tried to put it over her head. It was a full face one, which she was thankful for, but that still didn’t explain to her how to put the damn thing on.

  “I need help,” she admitted before he turned abruptly back to her.

  With sure fingers, he took the helmet from her hands and situated it before putting it over her head and then fastening the clip. “Good?” he asked her.

  If anything had ever made her feel like a child in her life—that had. “Yeah,” she nodded, her voice tight.

  He got onto the bike and then motioned for her to follow him. Never before had she done anything like this, so with the grace of an elephant, she flung herself behind him. Layne fought to keep the bike upright.

  “Easy,” he reprimanded.

  “If you had given just a little bit of instruction, it would have been helpful,” her clipped words were loud inside the helmet.

  His eyes bore into hers as he looked over his shoulder at her. Surprise was written all over his face at the words that had come out of her mouth.

  “Sorry,” she told him, this time her voice didn’t hold the irritation that it had before.

  “No, you’re right,” he nodded
at her. “I should have given you some instruction.”

  Before she could say anything else, he started the bike, and she had to grab on tight as he hit the accelerator and they took off like a rocket out of the parking lot.

  “Hang on,” he yelled belatedly back at her.

  The only thing she could do was hang on to his cut for dear life.

  Chapter Ten

  Layne was finding it hard to breathe with Jessica wrapped around his body. Her grip was strong and sure as her fingers dug into his stomach.

  “You okay?” he yelled behind him where she sat.

  She nodded but knew that he wouldn’t be able to see it. The fact was she was scared to death. Not so much because she was on the back of this bike, but because of the way she felt pressed up against Layne’s hard back.

  “I couldn’t hear you.”

  “I’m fine,” she answered when they stopped at a red light. Glancing up at the street signs, she saw that they were at the intersection of Louisville Road and Porter Pike and they were turning left. It looked very dark where they were going.

  “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you,” he reassured her.

  Without a shadow of a doubt, she knew that, but this was all so new to her. “I know,” she told him, holding on even tighter as the light changed and he leaned into the turn.

  “Relax,” he told her. “If you don’t, you’re going to be sore by the time we get back to the clubhouse. I won’t bite. Promise.”

  Jessica could hear the teasing in his voice. It was reminiscent of their early days together, when he hadn’t been so closed off with his feelings. She understood what he meant by being sore, she already was. Sighing deeply, she relaxed against him and looped her arms around his waist.

  In front of her, Layne fought the overwhelming panic that engulfed him when she got closer. It was like this every time he tried to let someone get close—his skin felt like it was on fire. Like it was too tight for his body. One move and it would crack, showing the bones and tendons underneath. He set his back teeth and told himself that he would live through this. He had to let someone hug him; he needed interaction just like any other human needed.