by Naomi West
They toured the rest of the converted warehouse in which most of the MC’s activities, both legal and not so legal, took place. “If I come back here, this will be the first thing I fix. We need to be a legitimate group for the world to take us seriously. It will be 100% clean if I ever become head again.” But he didn’t feel like he belonged at the helm of this anymore. Perhaps he was too old, or too tainted by Felice’s world to be able to live happily in this one anymore.
Sighing, Pierce showed her around, trying to push those thoughts away and focus on Felice.
Felice glanced up at the ceiling, overwhelmed by the sheer size of the warehouse. “So this is all yours?”
“Ours,” he answered, immediately. “It no more belongs to me than Steel Dom belongs to your mother. I’m just a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing.”
“So how many people are part of Millennium Mayhem anyway?”
Pierce’s eyebrows furrowed as he glanced up at the ceiling. “Maybe a hundred, if you count everyone. Not everyone lives here, though; some of the other guys have families, other places to live. Mostly the worst off of us come to live here, and we mostly never leave.”
The cavernous ceilings were grey and metal, reflecting the sounds of the rain through the whole building. It sounded like a heavy storm of hurricane proportions from inside, but it was a drizzle; the walls echoed noise around. “This is where we house and fix the bikes. We take in a lot of work from other people outside of the MC, too; everyone around here trusts us to fix their bikes when they need it.” Pierce pointed to the racks of bikes, standing up in the far corner. Next to them were racks and racks of tools and spare parts, taking up most of the space. The rest was filled with the bikes that the MC owned and used.
Most of the bikes were free for anyone to use, but a few had names written on them. Pierce was happy to see his second ride was still intact. His favorite bike was still back in Nevada at Felice’s house. Good thing he had a spare.
“The rest of the space over there are rooms for everyone who lives here and some other communal spaces. And our meeting rooms and some other things. And that’s about it.”
Razor, who had been following the tour, grinned widely with her gaping teeth. “And of course, there’s the junkyard outside, but it’s not exciting enough to go splashing around in the rain to go see.”
Felice’s eyes were huge circles of emerald. “It’s really impressive. You know, other than that one time you drove me home, I’ve never been on a bike before. Can you teach me how to drive one?”
Pierce chuckled. “I’ll drive you around, but you don’t want to get caught trying to drive around here without a motorcycle license.”
“The police don’t like us much here, so they check everyone driving a bike anywhere near the MC, hoping to bust new recruits.” Razor made a face. “Drives me crazy.”
Nodding sagely, Felice looked Razor up and down. “So, tell me the story behind the name ‘Razor,’” she said, grinning at Pierce’s tattooed second.
“Oh, girly, you have no idea what you have just unleashed,” Razor cackled in response. “It all started about ten years ago, on this very spot —”
And Felice was riveted.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Felice
“So, we’ve seen just about every tourist trap in town,” Felice said, running her hands through her long, blonde hair. They were lounging around their hotel room, trying to decide what to do for the day. Pierce was glancing through a booklet of some sort, looking for anything they hadn’t yet done. But after three weeks, almost everything that looked even a little fun had been done already. “Instead of looking for more touristy things, why don’t we just do whatever you would do if you have a night off here?”
Pierce blinked at her. “What do you mean?”
“What would you have done if you just wanted to get out of the MC and you didn’t have any duties holding you back?” she repeated, saying the words slowly. Pierce threw one of the ugly throw pillows from the couch at her, but she deftly ducked. “Or were you not allowed hobbies?”
He frowned, looking a little lost. “Most of my hobbies revolved around fixing the bikes and keeping up with everyone at the MC, Felice. We didn’t have a whole lot of spare time.”
“So you did have some spare time,” Felice said immediately, making Pierce roll his eyes.
“I guess we did have some spare time.”
“What did you do with it?” she asked, scooting closer and staring up at him.
Pierce melted within seconds, his mouth curving up into a smile and betraying his amusement. “Alright, fine. We would go for rides up in the hills. The hills aren’t far from here, and they have some overlooks. Sometimes we’d bring snacks and just sit up at the overlooks and smoke and drink and bullshit.”
Grinning, Felice picked up her purse off of the couch and stood in one fluid, graceful motion. “Sounds good; we’ll stop at 7-11. They serve smokes and drinks, but we might have to look elsewhere for the bullshit.” She eyed him, a crooked grin on her perfect, beautiful lips.
Pierce laughed, a loud, barking sound that echoed around their hotel room. Felice laughed right back at him, and then hurried out of the door. It would take a while to get up into the hills, and Felice’s stomach filled with butterflies at the idea. This was going to be wonderful; she would not only have an excuse to cling to Pierce’s perfect body all the way up the hills, but she would also get to feel the thrill of being on his bike with him again. And that thought was enough to want to spend some time out in the savage, savage wilderness.
# # #
Pierce
Felice nearly screamed with delight as the two of them took off on the bike. Her innocent delight at riding Pierce’s bike was one of the million reasons he loved her.
“Love? What I love about Felice?” The thought was still so new and raw that it felt a little like lemon juice poured over paper cuts, but the word popped up in his mind over and over again. He loved Felice? Yes, he did. He loved her like he’d never loved anything before, or would ever love anything again. She was the sun, the moon, the stars, and everything else he found beautiful about this world.
It was so true, he couldn’t have convinced himself otherwise no matter what.
They picked up some supplies, stuffed them into the saddlebags on Pierce’s spare motorcycle, and sped up the hills. The road quickly turned from city streets to suburbs, then those turned in quieter, one-laned things that were steep and narrow. The going was a little dangerous, and Felice clung to Pierce as though she would fall off at any moment. He nearly laughed at her clinginess. It was easy to forget that not everyone had spent their whole lives astride one of these monsters, learning every motion and sound. After years straddling this particular saddle, Pierce knew exactly how this bike would react to every situation. He knew how it should feel underneath him, how much power to hold back, and how much he should lean to one side or the other to keep the bike in perfect balance. Felice’s weight, as slight as she was, added a little bit of an unknown to the balance, but he adjusted for it like the bike was part of his own flesh.
It was a fine day out; the rains had brought a little warmth back into the air. Everything was cool and washed in sunlight, the rain completely soaked into the thirsty ground. The overlooks were going to look amazing, especially with the fiery, autumn leaves just starting to set all of the trees ablaze. He just hoped Felice liked them as much as he did.
After about an hour of driving, they pulled into one of Pierce’s favorite overlooks. It was hidden from the road in a way that made it nearly impossible to spot, even when you knew what you were looking for. The spot was a little overgrown and small, but it was also private and beautiful, and it was one of Pierce’s favorite places to go when he and his people would occasionally escape the confines of the MC’s warehouse to see a little sky.
As they pulled off of the road and onto the path that lead back into the overlook, Felice gripped Pierce's shoulders a little hard, her nails di
gging into his arms in a way that reminded him of the night before. It sent a thrill through his veins.
Much to Pierce's delight, the overlook was just as stunning as he'd remembered. As his powerful bike roared once last time before falling silent, the stunning overlook came into full view. The leaves this far up had already started turning, the oranges, reds, and greens all blending together like a forest fire. The overlook was nearly at the top of the hill, leaving them with a nearly three-hundred-and-sixty degree view.
Felice slid off of the bike, her eyes wide, her hand pressed to the valley between her perfect breasts. She seemed to be having trouble catching her breath, scanning the view with a kind of awe he had been hoping to inspire.
Getting off of the beaten path a little, Pierce pulled a few branches out from the woods, filling the park's little fire pit with bits and pieces. He laid out a blanket for Felice, and she sat down on the bit of cloth and watched him work. He took out a cigarette and a lighter, lighting both his smoke and the wood in the fire pit. Felice watched him with curious, green eyes, her arms locked around her knees as he worked.
“Have you done this a lot?” Felice asked, watching as the little cones of receipt paper caught flame, slowly setting fire to the wood. Lucky for him, most of the small stuff was already dry after the rains yesterday, probably from the warm sunlight pouring through the trees. Pierce worked quickly, feeding the fire little bits of wood until it was big enough to take one of the bigger, slightly damp logs.
“Yeah. Sometimes the crew and I would come up here when I was younger; we'd make something of a camping trip out of it. We didn't have any money, so we had to come up with our own amusements.” Pierce grinned, his mind filling with memories of his many visits to this very spot. “We learned pretty early on that as long as we stayed quiet and didn't destroy anything, the police would leave us alone. It was always the loud groups that got into trouble. We would spend most of our weekends up here.”
Felice set her chin down on her knees, her eyes following him around the campsite as he performed the chores necessary to keep the fire going. The sun was heading toward the horizon already, taking much of the light with it. It made the fire seem all the brighter; it glittered off of the side of his motorcycle like a Christmas display. By the time the sun set completely, Pierce had everything set up. A large blanket took up most of the room by the fire. A bottle of wine waited for them along with a collection of cheap snack foods that were Pierce’s favorites. Holding out his hand to her, Pierce helped Felice to her feet, twirling her around before sitting her down closer to the fire.
Chuckling, Felice glanced around at the odd collection of things waiting for them on the blanket. “So, what’s first?”
Pierce twisted the cap off the wine, taking a sip right from the bottle. He passed it over and Felice stared at him for a long moment. He was pretty sure she was going to pass, but then she tentatively took the bottle with both hands and held it up to her mouth.
“Wow,” she laughed, taking another sip of the wine. “That is unbelievably sweet. What is it?”
“Some cheap dessert wine, I think. It gets better the more you drink, I promise.”
They dug through the snacks, Felice laughing at the names and started obsessively checking the ingredients. “Does this actually contain any real food, or is it just chemicals pushed through a tube?”
“I think it might have a little food in there somewhere. But how about you try it first before you mock it?” Pierce chuckled, sticking a few Cheetos Puffs into his mouth. “Have you never had a Cheeto?”
Felice made a face. “I don’t think so. They always looked so orange, like they were made from nuclear waste.” Looking a little ill, she put the puffy, cheesy thing in her mouth, chewing suspiciously. “Hey, these don’t taste as bad as I thought they would!” She took another from the bag, nibbling on it as Pierce chuckled.
“These things are one of my favorite snacks. I love these things.”
Felice’s face went serious all of a sudden, her eyes black in the dancing firelight. “I — Pierce, thank you for all of this. For showing me your home. It means a lot. I — I’ve been wanting to — ” She paused for a moment, looking over the darkened landscape. “I’ve been hoping to get to know you better.”
Pierce glanced down at the ground, breaking a Cheeto in half. “There’s nothing much to get to know; my life isn’t glamorous or anything. It’s not like yours.”
“But if it’s important to you,” she said, her voice wavering, “then I think it’s important, too.” Felice turned away from him, her eyes studying the stars, which were coming on in force on this clear night. “They are important, because I love you.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Felice
Well, now that she said it out loud, it sounded silly. Just putting it out there like that. Pierce didn’t seem like the type of person to say those things to anyone, no matter what he felt. And Felice had just made it weird. It would be even more weird to apologize or take it back now. “Shit. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.”
Pierce was still silent, and Felice couldn’t bring herself to look at him. Silence reigned over their little campsite, the only sounds coming from the crackle of the fire pit.
After a long moment, Pierce brushed his fingers over her arm, making her jump a little in surprise. “Do you mean it?” he asked, his voice filled with hope and something like awe.
Felice let out a long breath she hadn’t known she was holding. “Of course I do, Pierce. I followed you out here, didn’t I? Risked my reputation to keep you out of jail. Did you think I did that for fun?”
He chuckled. “Might be a mistake, saying you’re in love with a criminal, Felice. What will people say?” his fingers caressed circles up and down her arm; she shivered, but not from the chill.
“I don’t care what anyone says,” she answered, her voice thick with emotion.
All of a sudden, Pierce was kissing her, his mouth hungry, his hands holding her face pressed closer to his. “Felice, I — I love you,” he whispered.
And Felice’s heart soared, swelling until it pressed against the confines of her chest. Everything ached, everything felt heady and light and beautiful. She was filled with the dizzying feeling of having drunk too much wine too fast. Filled with the thrill of driving too fast on an empty highway. She could feel the whole world spinning under her feet, and yet it seemed to all be frozen in place, holding its breath.
With a cry, she threw herself forward, claiming his lips again, her tears turning their lips salty as they spilled down her face.
“He loves me. I love him.” The sound of him saying he loved her echoed inside of her skull.
There was a part, a tiny part of her in the dark recesses of her mind that whispered that Pierce couldn’t love her. That they couldn’t belong together. But she told that tiny shadow in the back of her brain to go take a long hike off of a tall cliff.
For now, all that mattered was the crackle of the fire, and his body close to hers. Pierce, with a fire in his eyes hotter and brighter than the one that burned in the fire pit, tore off both of their clothing with a fervor Felice had never witnessed in him before. His buried his face against the curve of her neck while hard, bruising fingers caressed every inch of her skin. Gasping, Felice clung to him, her mouth kissing every inch of skin she could reach. Her lips traveled across his tattooed shoulders and up that beautiful, long neck of his. His scent was thickest here, that spicy raw scent of the man she loved.
She inhaled deeply; she never wanted to forget this scent for as long as she lived.
Sliding down his body, Felice kissed every inch of him. Her mouth traveled along his arms, her teeth nibbling along the ridges of his arms and his wrists. One at a time, keeping her eyes locked with his, Felice pulled each one of his fingers into her mouth, suckling them gently. Pierce shuddered under her ministrations, his eyes hooded and dark with lust. But he let her take control, perhaps curious to see what she would do.
&n
bsp; She continued, caressing the curves of his chest and stomach muscles with teeth, lips, and tongue, tracing the long lines of his tattoos with her mouth. He made a small noise in the back of his throat as her kisses moved south down his perfect body. Pierce’s hands came to rest on her shoulders and she got to her knees, bending over him for better access to his hips, his thighs, and eventually, the throbbing cock that stood at attention between his legs.
Admiring that wonderful dick for a moment, Felice tentatively ran her fingers over the spongy head of his glorious cock, unable to believe how soft the skin was that wrapped around him like silk. She pressed her lips to the head, kissing it softly. Pierce’s hands began to move as she made out with his dick. He massaged her shoulders with his strong hands, moving up her back as Felice took a hold of his manhood in one of her hands, squeezing gently as she put the tip of him in between her lips.