“That’s good news though isn’t it?”
“It would be but, he’s dead.”
“What do you mean he’s dead?”
“Just what I said. He woke up and said something then he went into a seizure and suffered cardiac arrest. They haven’t formally charged you yet, but, son, it’s coming.”
I grip the phone. “How much time am I looking at?”
“Five years but maybe two because you have a clean record, but because of who he is and who we are, they are going to throw the book at you. I think it’d be best if you don’t come home until we know more. It’d kill your mother to see you arrested.”
“Yeah. Tell everyone I said Merry fucking Christmas.” He ends the call promising he will do all he can for me. I know the score. I know how I am and how the world sees me except for Ainsley. I stare at her through the window as she twists her fingers into knots looking on the verge of tears. She sees me for who I am. She sees beyond my cut and I hardly know her. A million thoughts race through my mind as I snuff out my cigarette and walk back into the diner. My food is on the table, but I am not much in the mood for eating and I request a to go box.
Ainsley thinks I am being quiet on the drive back to the house because she didn’t get that pill but all I can think is I am about to go away for a long time.
She pulls into the driveway and I follow her inside. She puts my food in the fridge and I pull her down onto the couch with me. My hand moves to her cheek and my mouth is on her lips. Right now, I don’t want to think, and I seem to be able to forget when I look at her. She’s young, wild, and free. Everything I was hours ago. I would never admit it to anyone, but the thought of prison scares the shit out of me. I won’t have shit waiting for me by the time I get out.
Ainsley pauses, breaking the kiss. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“Is it because the pharmacy was closed?”
I shake my head and I lie to her because I am an asshole. “Don’t worry about it. If it comes down to it, I’ll be by your side every step of the way. We’d make a beautiful baby,” I tell her, moving my hand to her hip. She stares intently into my eyes and I push my guilt to the side and allow myself one last guilty pleasure. Her body presses into mine, her tongue is down my throat, and my hand moves inside her pants. My only desire right now is to get lost inside her. I’m already going to hell what’s one more mistake.
“Let’s continue this in the bedroom,” I suggest, leading her away from the living room and up the stairs. As soon as I get her in the bedroom my mouth and hands are back on her, taking in her beauty, enjoying all she has to offer an outlaw like me. She’s captivating. I kiss her soft and slow, rolling my tongue in her mouth, exploring every inch of her. Memorizing the sensations because before long the memory of tonight will be all I have left to look back on.
My phone vibrates, and I see that it’s Coralie. She’s probably upset about Jacob. I should care about her feelings but she sure as fuck didn’t care that this whole situation was her fault. I Pull away from Ainsley long enough to slide my thumb across the screen and hit the camera button as I accept the call. I place the phone on the dresser using the stand on the back of the protective case to give Coralie a Merry Christmas from me to her. Fuck her. She didn’t give a shit about me. Ainsley is too caught up in the moment to notice at first as she pulls my shirt over my head. I smirk as I turn my head to the side to see Coralie’s tear streaked face watching us via video chat unable to look away. I flip her the finger and she ends the call.
I grab Ainsley by the hips and push her against the wall. Her lips are on my ear as I slowly roll the t-shirt up and bring it up over her head. I grab the back of her ponytail and bring her mouth to mine as I work on getting her out of her pants. “Don’t worry,” I tell her. “I got condoms at the gas station, but at this point I don’t think it matters.” I don’t give her a chance to respond. If this is my last time with a woman before I go in, I want to feel her skin to skin as I bury myself deep within her walls.
“Axel,” she breathes out my name like a prayer.
“Shh, baby, no talking.” I silence her as I drop to my knees and pay worship to her body. My mouth is on her as my fingers grab her tight by her ass cheeks. I’m going to leave my mark all over her. I nip and suck the skin by her navel, leaving a trail of hickeys down to her pussy. Her fingers slide through my hair as she moves toward my mouth grinding her pulsing clit into my tongue. Her slick heat coats my tongue as she explodes under my touch. Her legs shake, threatening to buckle as an orgasm rocks through her. I suck her pussy harder, refusing to let her quit on me now, teasing at her forbidden hole with my thumb. She gasps, loving the sensation, digging her nails in my scalp. It’s a pity I won’t get to fuck her there too.
We move to the bed and I direct her to go on all fours, positioning her face down and ass up. With a hand pressing down on the back of her neck, I thrust inside her. Her knees slide on the bed. I coil an arm beneath her waist and pull her back, impaling her on my dick. I go back on my calves, my mouth on her neck, one hand on her clit as we move together.
Rolling around on the bed we change positions, pushing our bodies to the limit. I take her sideways like we are a pair of scissors. We’re sweaty and breathless as I pump into her like I don’t have a fucking care in the world. I know I should pull out, but I don’t. I love how good she feels when I spill my seed inside her.
Chapter 9
Ainsley
It’s Christmas morning which means it is also my eighteenth birthday. I awaken alone. The bed is cold next to me where Axel was only hours ago, doing filthy things with me. He controlled me, dominating me, and I confess I found it hot as hell. My body aches as I yawn and stretch. He could be gone for all I know but right now I just don’t care. Last night was crazy intense. Something was bothering him but the last thing the man wanted to do was talk. I hop in the shower and take my time, letting my tight muscles relax under the pressure of the warm water spraying overhead.
I’ve only known the man for less than forty-eight hours and yet I feel like we have never been apart. It’s weird. I’ve never felt like this before but then again, I haven’t really ever been in a relationship outside of fooling around with my teacher’s son. There aren’t many opportunities at an all-girl school.
I dress in the ugly ass red and green Christmas sweat suit and Granny panties I picked up from the drugstore yesterday before they closed. I look rough, but I don’t care. It’s Christmas and my birthday, I get to lay around all day eating junk and looking like shit if I want to.
When I get downstairs, I find Axel is not only still here the man is cooking breakfast, shirtless. I stare at his tattooed chest, flashes of the night before dance in my head. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like I can’t think clearly when he is around. I swore to myself I wouldn’t have unprotected sex again. I even prayed that if I wasn’t pregnant, I would be celibate for a year and an hour later I was fucking Axel again with no safety measure in place. He even mentioned condoms and I didn’t for one second think to say oh yeah, we need those. No. I just let him stick his dick in me, but damn what a magnificent dick it is.
He smiles at me as he flips a pancake on the griddle. “Merry happy Christmas birthday.”
“You remembered?”
He brushes my comment off, but I find the sentiment sweet. “I know this isn’t a birthday cake but it’s what I have.” He swirls some Redi-Whip on the stack of pancakes and sticks a candle in the center before lighting it. I take a seat at the breakfast nook and he serenades me with the birthday song, placing the plate in front of me. “Make a wish.”
I close my eyes once I think of a wish, opening them only after I blow out the flame.
“Thank you.” I squeeze his hand as I accept the fork he is offering me. We eat my birthday pancakes in silence, feeding each other bites. I know the unspoken question of what now is hanging between us but I’m not ready to ask him. I am afraid I
won’t like his answer.
We spend the day vegging out watching Christmas movies and eating junk until I feel ready to burst. “Why aren’t you with your family today?”
He sighs as he rubs my feet from his spot on the other end of the couch. “I wasn’t going to tell you, but I probably should. I’m about to be arrested for involuntary manslaughter.” I know shock is registering on my face, but he keeps talking. “It happened a few months ago. I lost my cool and a punched a jackass who was mouthing off and hitting on my girlfriend at the time. Only I hit him so hard that it shattered his palette and knocked out some teeth. The worst part is it sent him into a coma because he hit his head when he went down.” He can’t meet my gaze as I hang on his every word. “I found out yesterday that he passed away. I’ll probably have to turn myself in next week. My old man sent me down here hoping I could outrun my troubles but all I did was make things worse. I lied to you when I said that I will be here if something happens. I was being selfish and careless with your feelings. That wasn’t fair of me to use you like that.”
I’m speechless. I don’t know what to say other than sorry, but it seems so insignificant. “We’re quite the fucked-up pair, aren’t we? Yesterday….” I scoff. “Yesterday part of me was dreaming about what would happen if I were pregnant. I had this stupid fantasy playing out in my head how you would swoop in and we’d ride off to this fantastic life and I would have someone in this world who gives a damn about me. The sick part was I was relieved in a way when the pharmacy didn’t have that pill. I didn’t want to admit it to myself at the time, but I probably could have taken a cab or something to get to that other pharmacy, but I didn’t even try.”
He doesn’t say anything for a long time and I don’t either.
“You want to go to a wedding?” He asks out of the blue.
“What?” I laugh.
“What are you doing for New Years?”
“Nothing. Driving back to school. Don’t tell me you’re getting married.”
We both laugh for no reason really and he shakes his head and strokes his goatee. “My sister, Harley, she’s getting married on New Year’s. It’d mean a lot to my Mom if I was there. And I was thinking if you don’t have anything better to do…maybe you want to be my date. Give me one last thrill before…” he trails off.
I roll my lips, licking the bottom one. “Sure. Why not.”
It’s a sixteen-hour drive or a five-hour flight from Texas to Kentucky. I know I have lost my damn mind because Axel demands we drive my car. Two hours later once he has stored his bike and his moonshine in the garage we are on the road.
Axel is driving, and I am navigating and controlling the radio. Basically, he is getting an ear-piercing private concert performed by me. Poor guy. I’m supposed meet with my father’s lawyer in a few days to receive the first installment of my trust fund. I can’t help but wonder if there is anything I can do for Axel. I am about to have more money then I will know what to do with.
“Will you…will you not tell your family who I am? It’s just that I would rather they base their first impression who I am as a person and not the fact that I am the daughter of a man they all hated.”
“Sure.” His hand moves up my thigh and warmth pools in my lower abdomen. We didn’t plan our trip out in advance and neither of us took into account that it is Christmas day and no restaurants or stores are open. I’m starving and desperately need to relieve my bladder. We find a gas station that appears to be open. Axel fills up the tank while I make use of the bathroom. When I come out there are two guys in suits waiting for me and Axel is being held at gunpoint by two more.
One of the men grabs me by the arm and his fingers bite into my skin. I try to yank free, but he only tightens his grip in response. These men must have known my father, unless they are here for Axel.
“What do you want?” I ask as the man shoves me toward a dark sedan with blacked out windows much like the car my father would travel in when he would come visit me.
“Get your hand off her,” Axel growls and one of the men hit him in the back of the head, but he doesn’t go down. The hit seems to only piss him off and I can only hope he doesn’t do something dumb and get us both killed.
“Raul Hernandez has a proposition for you.”
“Well I don’t know who that is, nor do I care to hear any proposition he has.” I sneer at the man putting on a tough act but inside I am terrified. As I am pushed toward the car the back passenger window rolls halfway down. A pair of dark eyes meet mine. “Hello, Ainsley. You are more beautiful than I remember. The photos your father sent me of you didn’t do your beauty justice.”
“I have no idea who you are or what you want but your goon here needs to let go of me.”
“Of course.” He waves a hand at the man gripping my arm. He lets go and I immediately rub the tender spot where his fingers were. “You’re a hard woman to get in touch with. Your stepmother has been refusing my phone calls and denying me of what is mine.”
“And what is that?”
“Your hand in marriage.” I stiffen at the word. It sounds foreign on his tongue.
“Funny. He never mentioned you or this marriage proposal. You do know that I am not in the family business, don’t you?”
“I am well aware of the predicament you find yourself in. Surrounded by your father’s enemies and left unprotected. I promise I only want what is best for you. I will take care of you and keep you safe.”
“Well you are too late for that. You know what business my father had is done and whatever deal he made with you…is void. I have already been promised to another. Axel over there is delivering me to my stepmother where upon my arrival I am to marry some biker.” I would have said Axel, but I am afraid that this man whoever he is will hurt him or worse dispose of him out of spite.
“If what you say is true my family will see this as a great insult.”
A police cruiser is coming up the road and I smile, thanking God for small favors.
“Boss, five-O.”
“We will be in touch, soon, Ainsley. You can count on that,” he warns in a tone so ominous I almost expect hear that music they seem to play in all movies during a villain’s threat. His men quickly get into the car and they speed off. I rush to Axel, throwing my arms around his neck.
The cashier from the gas station opens the door to see if we are okay. He called the police once he saw what was happening. We assure him that we are fine, and Axel says it would be best we don’t stick around to talk to the police. They aren’t worried about us they are more concerned about the armed men.
Chapter 10
Axel
My hands are still shaking with rage thirty minutes later down the road. I don’t trust for one minute that it’s the last of those bastards. I know she is the daughter of Tiny Leone and it is just now hitting me how dangerous her situation is. I shouldn’t care what happens to her. She is just some chick that I met and fucked but there is something between us. An unspoken connection that pulls me to her. She is so vulnerable, and I need a good deed to make up for all the bad that I have done. I don’t believe for one minute that saving Ainsley will redeem me, but she serves as a perfect distraction from the shit I have waiting for me when we get to Drag Creek, but Drag Creek is the safest place for her. I know if I claim her my family will protect her. I don’t trust for a minute that Stephanie has Ainsley’s best interest at heart. She could have set her up to be taken for all I know. We need to get off the main highway and I need to call my old man he needs to know what sketchy shit is going down. I try to think of what friends the BRRMC has in the area.
I smile when I remember that there is a chapter of the Born Sinners about an hour away. I pull off at the next exit once I am sure we aren’t currently being followed. Ainsley is quiet and thoughtful. We both get out of the car and I go to the trunk to get my burner phone out of my bag. “I gotta report this to my Prez.”
She worries her bottom lip with her teeth as I turn the phone on. “I inh
erited the first half of my trust fund this morning. Axel, I have enough money to go anywhere in the world. My father left me well taken care of. You could come with me. Leave all your troubles and mine behind.”
I light up a cigarette, still craving a fat joint. “It’s a nice fantasy, darlin’, but you don’t run from men like Raul Hernandez and survive. You gotta cut a man like that off at the knees.”
“Or the head…” she says with a faraway look in her eyes. I don’t say anything in return, now isn’t the time. We need to get somewhere safe.
I dial my old man. He picks up on the first ring like he was waiting for my call. “Lo,” he says, and I hear murmuring in the background.
“Got a problem. Name Raul mean anything to you?”
“Tell me the girl is with you,” he snaps. He sent me here on purpose alone to protect and didn’t bother to clue me in. I’m fucking pissed. He should have told me.
“Yeah.” I turn and walk to the front of the car, sitting on the hood. Ainsley is standing between my legs with her hand entwined with my free one. I know she sees the annoyance on my face. It has nothing to do with her though. I use my ear and shoulder to hold the phone, so I can smoke without letting her go. My smoke blows in her face but she doesn’t complain for once.
“I’m close to Sinner’s territory.”
“No. Keep driving. Don’t take this to their back door. Take her to Webb Hollow. She’s Devils Rejects property.”
My jaw ticks and my blood boils. “No,” I grit out. “She’s mine.” I squeeze Ainsley’s hand as she listens to the conversation.
My father sighs. “I knew this would happen. You think with your cock. Just like me.” He laughs. “Fine. But you know what will happen once you bring her here, don’t you.”
I swallow hard. I know all right. My ass will be getting arrested the minute I enter Drag Creek. “Yeah. I know.”
“I gotta call Hades and let him know things have changed.”
Moonshine & Mistletoe (Black Rebel Riders' MC Book 11) Page 4
