Origin

by Ana Jolene

  I winced at the rush of blood that pounded in my temples like a dark beat. Suddenly, I wanted to. In the back of my mind, wicked thoughts swirled as I recalled the image of her wrapping those red lips around that shot glass earlier. It made the red-blooded male in me wonder what other things she could do with that mouth.

  For the third time that night, I had to forcefully stop my mind from fantasizing about a certain blonde bombshell.

  Yup. There was no doubt about it now. I was drunker than I had let on. I shouldn’t have ever given her a ride home. But it wasn’t the worry of crashing on the side of the road that terrified me. It was this unfamiliar feeling of wanting what you knew you shouldn’t that scared me now.

  Yet all that seemed to be forgotten as this indiscernible draw pulled me closer to her. My hand on her thigh grew courageous, exploring more skin. Her eyes drifted shut for a moment, as if she wanted to get lost in this confusing emotion circulating between us as much as I did.

  All this time, Seven remained wordless. It wasn’t in her to ask, I realized later. Seven had too much pride for that. But her eyes, the wide oceanic blue, told me all I needed to know.

  I was looking into the eyes of a woman who wanted to be kissed.

  And fuck me, I wanted to kiss her, too.

  I leaned in, running my hand through her already finger-tossed hair. My hand caught in something. Gently, I tugged it free, only realizing later what it was. A hairpin with a golden wing attached to it.

  I palmed it and slid it into my back pocket for now, not wanting anything to break this hypnotic moment. My hand immediately returned to her face, running over her cheek, registering the smoothness. All this time, I thought her to be prickly due to her personality. But her skin was baby soft. So different than I made her out to be.

  I drew my hand towards the back of her head as the need to kiss her turned ravenous. I should’ve pulled back. Should’ve stopped this madness before it was too late, but fuck it all, her lips could tempt a saint.

  The first pass of my lips over hers was electric. As she groaned, I deepened the kiss, luxuriating in her response. I didn’t know what was better—the way she curled her fingers into the back of my neck or how her tongue darted out to lick at the seam of my mouth. How had I never known this fire, this burning desire before?

  Seven’s mouth was an aphrodisiac, a forbidden fruit that now that I had a taste of, I wanted more. Women threw themselves at me all the time. But none were as sweet as Seven.

  My hands grew rougher as I tugged on her hair, tipping her head back so that I could run my mouth down her throat. I was surprised when she arched her back, further offering her body to me.

  Like the greedy bastard I was, I took in my fill. Not just with my eyes, but with my hands too, reaching out to graze over her breasts and thighs. Her skirt slid up higher, bunching at her waist. Within the shaft of moonlight peering into the car, I could see the white scrap of fabric shielding her from my view. Oh my God—

  Thought barely registered before Seven pushed me away. “Wait!”

  What the hell? I backed off immediately, the bubble of passion popping like a balloon. It was akin to being yanked out of a dream. My mind felt muddled and disoriented like I had an out of body experience and was just coming back into myself.

  “Shit.” In a flood, rational thought returned to me. “I shouldn’t have done that.” She was drunk and I had taken advantage of her. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand as if I could remove every trace of what had just happened. But holy hell, I was harder than a rock!

  Seven’s eyes had changed. They were no longer hazy. Gone was the willing, plaint woman of just moments ago; I was with the other Seven again. The one who despised me.

  Had it really been different between us for a while there? One minute she was hot as fire in my hands and then, a second later, she was frigid again.

  “I’m sorry but I can’t do this,” she whispered.

  “Right.” I had no idea what the fuck had come over me, but this was crazy.

  “You and I,” she said, indicating us with her hand. “We’re fire and ice. We don’t go well together.”

  I swiped a hand over my hair, feeling more than just my dick deflating. “Thanks for reminding me.”

  Her eyes turned sharp with my bitter tone. “I didn’t want to do something we’d both regret. That’s all I’m saying.”

  “Yeah, I got it, sweetheart. You realized who you were tangling tongues with and it turned you off.”

  “Lucky, I didn’t mean that. Don’t put words in my mouth.”

  Shrugging, I returned to my full height. Shoving my hands into my front pockets, I stepped back, giving her space to get out of her car. “Go inside,” I said quietly. “Get some sleep.”

  “Lucky,” she whispered.

  I stared at her.

  She stared back.

  When Seven finally realized I wouldn’t say more on the topic, she huffed her frustration and slipped out of the car, adjusting her skirt from where my hand had pushed it up high on her hips. It only reminded me of the feeling of her soft skin beneath my palms. I clamped my mouth down tight as she walked past me.

  “I’ll see you around then.”

  “Yeah,” I replied dumbly as I walked towards the debris-laden road. “I’ll see you around.”

  When I heard her go in and put the locks in place, I allowed myself to think about what I let happened.

  So much for resistance. I had told myself that I wasn’t like the other fools. But not only had I fallen prey to the siren’s call that beckoned me, I’d fallen way further into the icy depths of hell. Never again, Dylan, I promised myself.

  I’d been through hell once already and the whiskey there was shit. I wasn’t willing to go back a second time.

  Not for any girl.

  ONE

  Trouble Walked In

  One week later. . .

  Lucky

  The foul mood I was in could only be erased by one of two things: drowning myself in alcohol or drowning myself in sex. Luckily, one place had all the alcohol or pussy a biker could want so I headed to Neptune’s to indulge in the refuge it offered to try to forget the events of the other night.

  After coming home from Seven’s place, I had found a letter taped to my front door, signed only with my name on the front. The whiskey I had earlier instantly soured in my gut as I recognized the penmanship. Without even reading it, I crumpled up the paper and tossed it to the ground. After the stuff that just happened with Seven, I didn’t have time for that bullshit.

  Walking into the apartment, I headed straight for the hard stuff, but when I was three shots in and still fuming, I realized that it couldn’t be helped. Now that I had seen the note, there would be nothing that would make me forget it.

  In my mind, snapshots formed, reminding me of a time that I didn’t want to remember. This was bullshit. I had walked out of that life a long time ago and found a place in Glory MC, a place where I felt I belonged. This unexpected note only reminded me of the illusion I had made for myself, calling attention to where I had come from, and probably, where I would always belong. I was still shaking when I opened the front door of my apartment and picked up the crumbled paper. Seven words stared back at me.

  Come home. Lennon wants to see you.

  “Shit.” This wasn’t good. This was so not good.

  Like a black and white movie, my past had the potential of playing out in front of me for all to see. I thought I had buried that shit long ago, but fate had a funny way of finding you even when you assumed a different personality. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I could never outrun my beginnings.

  Since then, the note was all I had thought of, acting as a distraction that I didn’t need.

  At this point, I could fuck or I could fight. It really didn’t matter as long as I could do at least one tonight. I just needed something to get my mind off this fucking note. The shaking had yet to stop, so I was once again sucking on the end of a cigarette, ho
ping it would take the edge off. I could barely concentrate now. For a full week, my emotions were trigger happy, my concentration at an all-time low. The aggression within me continued to build, finding no way out. I needed to pound it out or I’d fucking pop.

  I spotted trouble as soon as I walked in through the doors of Neptune’s. With their backs towards me, the fools waiting at the bar didn’t see me coming until the business end of my pistol was pressed up against their leader’s skull. One quick pump of my finger and this moron wouldn’t have known what killed him. “Hands up, motherfucker, or I blow your head off.”

  For a brief moment, all three men were frozen in place as surprise hit them like a brick. Then after a beat, they dove into action. One of them came at me with a heavy fist. I ducked before he could land one on me, his punch instead hitting air. The other to my right didn’t bother with aim, he just tackled me mid-body, sending us back and crashing onto the tables and chairs.

  Patrons stumbled back as we barreled into them. We staggered to our feet, weaving as several customers whizzed past us to get to safety. With the force of a bull, I charged forward, grabbing the asshole and nailing him through the nearest table. It cracked underneath his weight.

  Sensing movement behind me, I turned. My face caught the punch of the other guy who had missed me earlier. He grinned now. “Got you there.” His smug smirk was punctuated with a brain-muddling hit that had me blinking stars. Fucking hell. What the fuck was his fist made of? Concrete?

  The taste of pennies filled my mouth as pain radiated from it. “Watch out,” I said before he turned. Grabbing his hair, I yanked his head back and bashed it into the bar, feeling the satisfying crush of cartilage. Behind it, Indy’s eyes were wide like saucers as she stared back at me.

  “Clean that up, would you?” Hanna would murder me if I got her bar bloody.

  “Lucky, what the hell are you doing?” Indy yelled. But I ignored her and turned to face the last man standing.

  Two hands raised in surrender as I aimed my pistol at him. “I just wanna talk.”

  Too late for that. “Get the fuck out.”

  “Come on, man.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I just wanna talk.”

  I rolled my eyes and maneuvered the pistol in a little rolling motion. “So speak.”

  The man eyed the crowd surrounding us and shook his head. “In private.”

  “You’re shit outta luck, man. We don’t host private parties here.” My finger tightened on the trigger, readying to blow his head off. My anger was through the roof and my patience had run out a long time ago.

  Except the motherfucker uttered the one word that ultimately saved him. “Please.”

  My eyelids fluttered shut before I could stop it, the fight in me dying out like a flame without oxygen.

  Bronson Alborn was Ward Three’s newest leader, replacing the idiot, Brennan, who got his Ward into a slew of problems he couldn’t find his way out of. “Tell your cronies to take a hike,” I growled. “It’s just you and Glory MC in this. No one else. Whatever you gotta say, you say it to all of Glory MC, got it?”

  The Ward leader nodded.

  Aim never wavering far from his face, I pulled out my phone and called up Glory MC, requesting an emergency meeting. In minutes, Neptune’s would be swarming with more bikers. I realized belatedly that this was what I should have done when I first spotted them, but aggression took first run, logic only now regaining control.

  As we waited, the two men who gave me a good round of boxing started to wake. I sent their leader a look. “Leave,” he told them in a strict, authoritative tone. “I need to speak with Glory MC alone.”

  Their hardened gazes cut to me as they reluctantly left the dive bar. Meanwhile, Hanna was dealing with crowd control, telling her customers that the brawl was over and to go about their own business again. “Next time, I’ll have to charge for the show,” she joked as she flashed an easygoing smile that calmed everyone down.

  As the crowd settled, my aggression slowly died out. With that came the realization that I had made a big fucking mess. It would require more than just sweeping it under the rug and praying that nobody would notice.

  I eyed the busted-up table, the bloodied floor, and the bashed in bar. Hanna shot me a nasty glare over her shoulder, confirming my thoughts. Yeah, I’d messed up big time. And I’d no doubt have to pay for it now when the rest of Glory MC rolled in.

  As if the situation could get any worse, over on the far side of the bar, my gaze landed on someone I hadn’t noticed when I first walked in.

  Seven stood off to the side, holding a pool stick in her hand. Her oceanic eyes were wide as she took in the damage I had caused.

  Her eyes locked on me as if she wanted to say something, but her parted lips made no sound. I was glad for it. I wasn’t in a good mindset right now to deal with it. Torrid emotions ran rampant within me. Many of them I had no idea how to handle. I didn’t need to mess up things between us even more. God, why the hell did I have to kiss her?

  Seconds later, Knuckle, the president of Glory MC, came barreling through the doors, looking like a pissed off bull. “What the fuck happened here?” he growled. I figured an “Oops, my bad?” wouldn’t suffice as an apology. “Jesus fucking Christ, Lucky,” he roared as he took in the damage and locked his infuriated gaze on me. “Who pissed you off?”

  The rest of Glory MC rolled in one after the other, taking in the damage with sharp eyes. Even with Hanna and Indy working hard to clean up the mess, there wasn’t a quick way to fix the tables that were snapped in two.

  I had messed up the clubhouse, caused shit for Hanna’s business, and got Glory MC involved in another Ward’s problems all in one tonight. Congratulations, Lucky, you just won the award for being the biggest dick in the club!

  Knuckle spared one glacial look at Ward Three’s leader and barked, “Inside,” before we all crammed ourselves into the meeting room. Glory MC often used Neptune’s as a clubhouse. It provided a space for business and for pleasure. But tonight, after the mess I had made, I knew it would be all work and no play. Something had to be going on for another Ward leader to come here and ask to talk.

  As I trailed behind, I caught Seven’s eyes. The cerulean blues darted away quickly. So she didn’t want me to know she was looking at me. Did she want to talk? Even when I took advantage of her?

  “Lucky!” Knuckle barked and I jerked my head in his direction. “Get your ass in here!”

  After one last look at Seven, I turned away.

  Seven

  I figured that the first time I saw Lucky since that messed up kissed we shared, it would come with a whole lot of trouble. I just didn’t expect it would have a bucketful of blood and a knuckle sandwich to go with it. Talk about a crazy combo! The brawl happened so fast, if I blinked, I was sure I would’ve missed it.

  Lucky was fast. So fast that he nearly flattened the entire bar all by himself. Three against one hardly seemed fair until he started to move. His fought like a bruiser, a heavy bull of a man who moved with the swiftness and the precision of a boxer.

  By the end of it all, Lucky’s face was a bloodied mess, his opponents flat on their backs surrounding him as one stared back at him with fear. As it all happened, my own heart pulsed in my chest until I thought it would explode.

  As Hanna tried to calm the crowd down, my gaze was fixated on Lucky and his movements. His muscles moved beneath his tanned skin, made exposed by the ripped shirt hanging off his shoulders. I wasn’t the only one who was taking in the sights either. Other women of varying ages were enjoying the view before us, no doubt filling their minds with fantasies for later on.

  I steeled my gaze, shielding myself from the Lucky pheromones that seemed to permeate the air. I’d been a victim of that lust once and had nearly lost control. I wouldn’t fall prey to it twice.

  Yet the way he moved seemed to call attention to him. It screamed look at me! Even if his ego didn’t need any more stroking. Lucky just seem
ed to draw attention to himself whether he liked it or not.

  When he caught me looking, I glanced away, embarrassed that I was one of the women who’d been caught ogling him. I waited for that trademark panty-melting smirk to make an appearance, but that know-it-all grin was absent today. Lucky just held my gaze, keeping me trapped in an intense standoff that made me break out into a sweat. I realized belatedly that he was trying to read me.

  I slammed up my mental blockades, trying to keep my face as emotionless as possible. The second he knew he could affect me, he would run a gambit with it and use it against me. Bikers were like that, I realized in the recent months that I had been hanging around Glory MC. They used what emotions you had for them and manipulated it to their liking. If you hated them, they toyed with that emotion, goading and taunting you with threats until that intense hate spiraled into something they could wield against you—fear.

  With women, Lucky wasn’t that different. He knew his power over the fairer sex. And because of that panty-melting smile that could incinerate you on the spot, I knew Lucky loved to mess with a woman’s mind. I wouldn’t give him the opportunity with mine.

  As the prez of Glory MC made a commotion, waved his arms in fury a bit and pointed to the meeting room, the club moved silently to do as he commanded. The door closing meant that trouble was over for now. But I didn’t have to be educated in meteorology to know that a storm was brewing. Everyone in Neptune’s could feel it in the air.

  I sat at the bar and tried not to look over my shoulder again at the closed door. I’d come here hoping for a chance to talk to Lucky and straighten shit out about the other night. As much as he annoyed me, the last thing I wanted was to make an enemy out of Indy’s boyfriend’s best friend.

  But it was clear from the way Lucky stomped into Neptune’s that something was terribly off with him. I could see it in his eyes. Though light in color, there were storms in his irises. Something dark was bothering him. And by the Tasmanian devil demolition job he did, it was clear he wasn’t handling it well.