by Marie James
“Something we need to discuss, Brother?” Red-hot rage burns behind my eyes as I glare at them.
Briar releases his hold on Molly, but they don’t step away from each other.
“She thinks they’re going to a party in Worcester,” Briar explains.
All of my attention is now on my sister. She has two damn older, blood brothers, and I still require help from other guys in the group to help manage her.
Molly’s eyes narrow, focused on Briar rather than me. She’s pissed that he’s snitching on her, and I get it. The girl thinks she’s grown and safe outside of these walls, but I know differently.
“You’re not leaving the compound,” I tell her before walking away.
“You’re a dick,” she spits, but I ignore her.
Even the slam of my front door doesn’t affect me. I have one goal in mind, and that’s all I can focus on. A ride alone without the worry of what’s going on at my clubhouse is the only reprieve I’ll get for a few hours. Some days I just want to get on my bike and ride away. I want to leave everything behind me and start anew somewhere else, but I can’t do that. People depend on me. My club depends on me.
I don’t say a word to anyone when I pass through the clubhouse. People must be able to read the look on my face when I enter and walk straight through to the front because no one tries to speak to me or ask me to join in on their fun. TJ was right earlier. All of the guys are drinking, laughing, and hanging on to the women spread out among them. Life is good. They have no fucking worries, not a care in the world for the evening. If only my life was as simple. I’d thought things were hard trying to get work done around here without drawing my father’s attention, but things have been even more hectic since he was put to ground.
Pete doesn’t give me shit when he sees my lone bike inch near the gate. He merely presses the button, giving me a slight wave when I gun the engine and ride off into the darkness.
Chapter 24
Candi
“Your brother is an asshole,” I swear as I plop down in the vacant rocking chair between Molly and Briar.
Molly snorts, and Briar just stares off into the distance, holding a beer on his lap as his fingers pick absently at the label. I feel like I’m interrupting something. Both of them seem sullen. Well, Molly is pissed, and Briar seems dejected.
“You tell me that at least once a day,” Molly reminds me.
“And I’ll keep telling you until he changes.”
“He’ll never change,” Briars says.
“Things can change,” Molly insists. “Love makes everything different.”
“Love?” Briar huffs. “Love can’t mean shit when it breaks the rules.”
With that crushing piece of information, Briar stands up and walks off the porch. Molly doesn’t speak until he disappears into the darkness around the side of the clubhouse. I’ve learned that the garage is in that direction. Briar spends a lot of his time in there when a party is going on inside the clubhouse. If we’re inside the clubhouse, he’s always near, but it seems like he avoids the place when we’re at Molly’s house. He’s there for her. I know it, and everyone else knows it too. Well, maybe not Lynch, but anyone else with a pair of functioning eyes can see the draw they have to each other.
“He’s an asshole, too,” my friend says.
“So him loving you is against the rules?”
Her face pinches, but she doesn’t answer me. She won’t. I’ve learned very quickly that there are a lot of things that aren’t spoken of around here. Only certain people are informed of everything, and I’m not informed of a damn thing.
“We can go hang out with the girls,” Molly says brightly. She’s faking a good mood, but her denial is also none of my business. I have enough of my own shit to wade through.
“That’s a great idea,” I return in a matching jolly mood.
Fake it until you make it, right?
“Wow,” I say with a grin as Vixen slams another shot back. “That’s like ten shots. I can’t believe you’re still standing.”
“Want one?” Vixen asks sliding a shot in my direction.
I shake my head. I’m not saying I don’t feel safe around the people here, but after what happened in Andover, I’m not willing to take any chances. I got drunk here once before, but it was mostly just the girls here. Tonight, everyone but Lynch is hanging around, laughing, and having a good time. Things just feel different. Molly is slamming them back like she’s on a mission, while Briar stares her down from across the room. Something is building there, and before long it’s going to boil over. I just hope that I’m not in the way when that volcano erupts.
“He’s watching you,” Molly whispers loudly in my ear. She’s past the point of regulating her volume, so everyone around us takes note of her words.
My eyes snap in the direction she’s looking, hoping to catch Lynch’s eyes on me.
Ronan is the only person looking in this direction.
Someone falls against my shoulder, and I grin seeing Legs try to steady herself against me. Thank fuck I’m sober because we’d both be on the ground if I wasn’t.
“He has the most talented mouth my pussy has ever had the privilege to meet.”
Vixen nods almost violently in agreement, and it’s clear that the alcohol has finally caught up with her.
“Can’t possibly be better than Lynch’s,” I challenge.
Legit. The man could win Olympic medals for pussy eating, and let’s not even start on his dick skills.
“Gross,” Molly whines as she shoves her index fingers in her ears dramatically.
“I wouldn’t know about that,” Legs says with a frown.
“Me either,” Vixen adds.
“What are we talking about?” Xena asks as she walks toward our group.
“How good Lynch is at cun-cuni-cunili,” Legs frowns when she can’t get the right word out.
“Eating pussy,” Vixen fills in for her.
“Lynch doesn’t eat pussy,” Xena says with a shrug. My eyebrows hit my hairline.
“The fuck he doesn’t,” I counter.
“Lynch doesn’t eat our pussies,” Xena says pointing her finger around to include all the girls in the group but Molly and me.
“He ate hers,” Legs says on a chuckle.
“Devoured,” I mouth with a grin on my face.
“He’s eaten other pussy before.” My eyes snap up to Piper as she walks up and tosses back the shot Vixen had offered me earlier. “He was quite infatuated with a girl named Carrie a while back.”
“Carrie?” Molly slurs. “Carrie has been gone for over a decade.”
“Closer to thirteen or fourteen years,” Piper corrects with her eyes on me.
“That long?” I try to do math in my head, but I don’t actually know how old Lynch is. He’s older than I am, but I never would’ve guessed he was in his thirties.
“He wasn’t involved with her.” Molly’s head is shaking back and forth, rejecting Piper’s words. “He’s only twenty-seven.”
“And he was eating her pussy at thirteen.”
“Nice,” Legs whispers salaciously.
“Thirteen?”
My eyes snap to Molly, noticing the cringe of disgust on her face.
“That’s child abuse,” I whisper, feeling sorry for Lynch, yet knowing he would tell me where I could shove my sympathy.
“That’s club life,” Piper says with a shrug as she reaches for another shot.
“The teens are allowed to have sex?” I can’t seem to let it go. My mind cannot process anyone approving of thirteen-year-olds having sex, much less knowing there are women around here willing to do the deed.
“The boys are apparently,” Molly mutters. “I can’t get fucked until I’m twenty-five.”
“Forty,” Briar grunts as he walks by. The man is like a shadow, going unnoticed until he wants to be seen.
Molly snaps her teeth in his direction as he walks toward the bar for another beer.
Ronan serves him, hi
s eyes turning back to our group once Briar walks away again.
“He can’t take his eyes off you,” Legs whispers in my ear. “You should really get a taste of that.”
I chuckle and smile at her insistence.
“Or, let him get a taste of you. I swear he’s the best,” she continues.
“Not gonna happen,” I hiss.
“You just have to be a little braver,” Legs says with a quick squeeze to my shoulder. “Hey, Prospect! Candi is interested in your mouth.”
“Like I’m interested in hers?” His voice meets my back because I spin around and glare at the blonde stirring shit up.
“Enough,” Briar spits from a corner in the room.
I expect the warning to be issued to Legs, but when I look over, Briar’s eyes are focused on Ronan. There’s a fire in them that makes my hands tremble. He may handle Molly with kid gloves, but make no mistake, the man is deadly.
With the warning in place, Legs breaks off and heads over to the men in the living room while Molly, Vixen, Piper, and I crowd around a high-top table, taking turns throwing darts. It doesn’t take long for Legs to straddle the lap of a guy I’ve seen around a couple of times. He’s not a patched member, but he’s around enough to be comfortable in this setting.
I know what Legs is going to do. She seems to love all forms and fashion of sex, but it’s TJ that draws my attention. He’s got Velvet’s head working his cock over, but his eyes are on Legs as she pulls the front of her top down and inserts the tip of her breast into the hangaround’s mouth. The dude getting a taste isn’t concerned about TJ getting mad, but the entire scene makes me nervous. TJ’s hand grips a fistful of Velvet’s hair, holding her in place as he pumps his hips up from the couch to thrust into her mouth. His eyes never leave Legs, and they never grow jealous or angry either.
“Does that turn you on?” Xena’s voice breaks the hold the scene playing out in the living room has on me.
“I shouldn’t be watching,” I mutter as I turn my back to the other room.
“They would do it in private if they didn’t want people to watch them,” she clarifies.
“TJ doesn’t even care that his girl is messing around with that other guy.”
“He hasn’t claimed her.” She steps closer to me like she’s going to share club secrets. The thought is ridiculous. No one here will tell me any more than the President allows. “He knows if he orders no one else to touch her, he’s making a statement, and TJ will never want an Old Lady. He loves variety too much.”
“He doesn’t care?” How do you spend so much time messing around with someone and not have feelings for them? My skin tingled at just the mention of Lynch’s name after my first night here.
“TJ knows that he could snap his fingers and pull Legs off that guy's cock.” She points, and I turn, eyes following the path of her finger. Sure enough, Legs has pulled her panties to the side and is riding the hangaround’s dick. Velvet is doing the same with TJ. “There’s only one girl in this club that he can’t pull away from someone else.”
Me.
She doesn’t even have to say the word. Lynch made it clear that no one is to touch me.
“Lynch wants me to be his Old Lady?” My voice is a squeak. That’s the short of it, right? I’m great with numbers, and two plus two is always four.
Xena’s rough laugh forces my lips to tilt down in a frown.
“Sweetheart,” she begins, placing her arm around my shoulder. “Lynch is just like TJ. He’s never going to settle down. Cowboy fucked them both up too much for them to ever commit to one woman.”
Cowboy has been mentioned several times, but no one goes into detail. They give tiny bits and pieces, but the second I open my mouth to learn more, they shut the conversation down like they shouldn’t have brought him up in the first place.
I’m not deterred, however, but just as I open my mouth to ask, the front door opens and slams with a thunderous boom so loud the entire room grows silent.
“Church,” Lynch spits as he walks through the room and disappears into the chapel. He doesn’t even spare a glance my way.
All of Lynch’s puppets snap and follow. TJ doesn’t even frown when he lifts Velvet gingerly off his still-hard cock and tucks it back into his jeans to join his brother.
Chapter 25
Lynch
“Report,” I demand as I fall into the chair at the head of my table.
“The numbers from Spring Break were better than we anticipated. The guys who focused on the beaches during the day were extremely successful,” Boston begins.
“We should consider doing the same thing, maybe expanding for 4/20,” Briar adds.
With my arms crossed over my chest and tight against my body, I turn in his direction, suspicious of where the conversation is going to go.
“Expand?”
Briar nods, looking around the table at the group. “We focused mainly on Annapolis and Virginia Beach for Spring Break. We could easily go further south.”
“Like Miami?” I specify.
He requested to go down there once before, and I can’t help but think he’s using the success of one weeklong event to entice the others to agree with him. It’s a sneaky, devious way of trying to get what he wants.
He doesn’t shift or seem uncomfortable under my scrutiny.
“I was thinking the Outer Banks and possibly Myrtle Beach.”
“Myrtle Beach is off the hook for Spring Break,” TJ interjects.
“Hornet?” My Road Captain will know more about the logistics.
“I’ll have to do some checking, see what’s already going on down there, but it’s possible. Expansion for certain events isn’t a bad thing.” He looks over at Chains. “Do you foresee any issues?”
Chains shrugs as he leans back in his chair. “There might be a few small time guys there. They wouldn’t be my concern, but you never know who has the same idea as us. Groups from as far as Dallas or New Orleans could be moving in.”
“So there’s no way to be one hundred percent sure?”
“Right,” Chains says, his eyes growing serious as he looks over at me. “If we go and there are issues, we can’t just walk away. We’ll be forced to engage.”
“We’re not ready to claim territory that far,” TJ says. “We haven’t even secured Pittsburgh, yet.”
“It was just an idea,” Briar says.
“Let me feel it out, Prez,” Hornet insists. “I wouldn’t send anyone down there for a battle they aren’t prepared for.”
“Anything else?”
The guys around the table shake their heads.
“I’ve been thinking about Hornet’s bitchfest.” My Road Captain snorts at me but doesn’t say a word. “I felt his pain when we had to load up the other day in Worcester, so I’m thinking bike modifications may be the way to go. It’s the only thing I can think of that will keep us out of the cages for long transports.”
A wide grin spreads across Hornet’s face.
“It won’t stop us from using them like we had to the other day.” The guys around the table nod with excitement. “But it will limit it some.”
“There’s a couple of shops around that probably wouldn’t question a biker’s need for compartments,” Chains says. “I know of one in Worcester and another in Providence.”
“Let’s start in Providence. I’d like to keep things further away from the clubhouse. Anything else?” Heads shake all around the table. “Church dismissed.”
Briar stays behind. It’s not unusual for him to stick around, and the guys leaving don’t question it either.
“What’s up?” I rub at both eyes, somehow exhausted despite sleeping all damn day.
“How was your ride?”
“I’m not a fucking woman, Briar. You don’t have to butter me up and make me think you’re interested in me.”
He snorts. I don’t know that the man would remember what it was like to have a woman under him. Sad bastard.
“Speaking of women.” His
hand tugs at the back of his neck.
“The guys are wondering when you’re planning to release Candi.”
I could cut a motherfucker right now.
“Something you need to tell me, Brother?” I’m more concerned that this is the second goddamned time I’ve had to ask this question today.
“What?” His eyes snap to mine. “Me? Are you fucking kidding?”
If he had any idea what Candi’s pussy felt like, he wouldn’t question why I was wondering. If there was one cunt on earth that would make him forsake his vow of celibacy, it would be hers.
“My dick stays in my jeans. You know that.”
“So long as it isn’t focused on Molly either,” I warn, remembering how close they were standing on the front porch earlier.
His eyes never leave mine, but his throat works on a rough swallow.
“As far as Candi goes, the guys just need to give up on that. It’s never going to happen. When I’m done with her, she’s gone. They won’t even get a chance.”
“I’ll let them know,” he says placing his palms flat on the table and pushing himself to stand.
I follow him out and into the living room. I know if I stay in the chapel, if I get one second alone, I’ll withdraw the whole rest of the night. My bike ride was cut short only forty-five minutes in because I felt like I couldn’t stay away.
Ronan serves Briar a beer at the bar, but after my VP walks away Ronan’s eyes dart right back to the cluster of women near the dart boards. I know Candi is there without even looking over. Her presence glows in his smile, and my own body, so attuned to her, hums at being this close to her.
“Beer,” I snap when I walk up to the bar.
“Sure thing, Prez.”
“Make it three fingers of whiskey,” I amend the second he places the bottle in front of me.
He doesn’t miss a beat, merely sets the beer to the side, replacing it with a rocks glass.
“The usual?” His eyes meet mine. “Or did you want to try some of the new stuff Chains brought back the last time he was out?”
“Usual,” I huff. Chains has a ridiculous taste in alcohol. The last thing I want is Scotch aged in an octopus’ asshole or something as equally horrifying.
