by Stacey Lynn
“Sorry,” I apologized for the chair but I meant more. I just didn’t know how to tell her.
“It wasn’t the chair.” She sighed and her head fell back into the corner. “It was the night, the life. It just all…” her voice trailed off and her hands waved like a tornado in the air, “sort of exploded at one time.”
I left her to her silence and her thoughts while I filled a glass with water. She didn’t thank me when I handed it to her, so I left her in the corner, her mind far away again but I knew she was okay this time.
Just thinking.
I called Jaden as soon as I sat down in the living room.
“Guy wasn’t Black Death. No club marks on him at all,” Jaden said, as soon as he answered. My insides burned and my blood pounded in my ear. Fuck. I rubbed my hand along the side of my cheek, scratching the hair and trying to figure out what in the fuck to do with Liv now. Who would do this, if it wasn’t Black Death?
“You find Travis?” I growled in a low voice and hoped Liv didn’t hear. She could deny it all she wanted. But the little shit left too close to the timing of the attack to be innocent. I didn’t believe it for a second.
“He showed up and was shaken that Olivia wasn’t there. Seemed really upset, man. Don’t think he had anything to do with it.”
“Bullshit. What does Prez want to do?”
“Blowback. Immediately.” I figured. Too bad. We couldn’t blowback if we didn’t know the enemy. I heard a rustling sound and the music from the club pumping through the phone speaker. “Bull wants her here on lockdown.”
In my peripheral vision, I saw Liv standing in the doorway, still a full of glass of water in her hand. She watched me, expressionless.
“I’ll bring her in tomorrow.”
“He wants her here now.”
“And that ain’t happenin’, brother. Not tonight.” I hung up before he could argue.
“My dad wants me at the club.”
I dropped my head and ran my hands through my hair. She was always too smart for her own damn good. “Tomorrow. Guy wasn’t Black Death so we don’t have a clue who did it.
“And I suppose the list of people who hate you is quite long.”
I ran my hands down my mouth and pulled on my goatee. She wasn’t wrong.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her move into the living room. She walked to the fireplace, looking at the pictures I had on the mantle. I hadn’t changed a thing since my dad died and I took over the house. All the pictures were of club members’ kids: Me and Liv, Jaden, Ryker and Faith, Scratch and Jules. Friends ‘til the end.
That’s how it was supposed to be. Club brats who would always stick together.
Somehow, it all went so fucking wrong.
“It only happened because someone saw me with you.”
My hands tightened into fists. Fuck if I had anything to do with this. “Where did Travis go when he left you tonight?”
She shrugged and kept her back to me. “He said he got called in for something.”
“He left your door unlocked when he left. You still think he didn’t have anything to do with this?”
She shook her head, her brown hair waved back and forth across her back as she continued to glance over the photos. “He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“Bullshit. What he wouldn’t do is let you have anything to do with me. He has his fucking briefs in a twist because I helped you last week, and he wants to make sure you stay far away from the club. He’d do anything to keep you and your baby.”
Silence settled between us, I expected her to tell me to fuck off again, but she didn’t. Eventually, she sighed, sadly. “He doesn’t know. I haven’t been able to tell him.”
I walked toward her, knowing it was a mistake, but I couldn’t help but want my hands on her again, touching her.
“That’s because,” I said and put a finger under her chin, tilting her head toward me so she had to look in my eyes. “You don’t want to be with him. And not only that, you need to know that he’s been talking with Black Death.”
Her eyes widened, her lips parted and she inhaled a quick gasp. “I don’t believe it. He wouldn’t go dirty.”
“A lot can change in five years, Liv.” People could, too. She was braver than she used to be, but harder, more closed off than I’d ever seen. I wanted to take a sledgehammer to her fucking walls so I could see her smile and laugh again. And what sort of pussy did that make me? But Travis wasn’t who she thought he was.
“He’s my friend. One of the few who have welcomed me back home. I won’t turn my back on him just because you told me to.” I closed the distance between us, stood in her personal space, looking at the same picture she saw—her in a picture between Ryker and me. Ours arms draped over her shoulders, the brand new Harley I got for my birthday in front of us.
“Five years.” She blew out a shaky breath and pressed her lips together. “Five damn years away from this place, and only four months after being back in this town, I’m thrown into shit I never wanted to be a part of.”
“Ain’t anything I can do about that.” I shrugged, propped my elbow on the mantel, and faced her. It was the life; she always knew that. She could deny it all she wanted, but she wouldn’t have come back to Jasper Bay if she didn’t want to be a part of it in some way. And there was only one way she could be: All. In. “The only thing I can do now is keep you safe.”
“Travis can do that.”
My blood boiled, hearing his name roll off her pouty lips. Lips she was currently biting with her teeth as she glared at me.
“Keep dreaming. Travis is in bed with Black Death. He has been for months. He’s been helping them bring their drugs to town and trying to push us out. Us, Liv,” I growled, pointing to my own chest. “We’re the club who cleaned up this town. You might not like how we did it, but it’s done. Travis is fucking it all up. He’s choosing the wrong club, and it’s going to get his ass killed; and if you’re with him, you could be hurt, too.
“He wouldn’t betray me. Not like that.”
I wanted to scare her. Intimidate her. Remind her of why she used to love me. Because I wanted to be the one she trusted to keep her safe. I had been the one to keep her alive all those years ago, and I’d do the same thing all over again, even if we ended up right back here, having this shitty ass argument over a boy who was no more a man than an pre-puberty kid.
“And when he does? When he fucks you over and screws over your dad and me… who will you choose then?” If she said Travis, I was going to put him to ground. Instead, her lips curled into a sneer.
I felt the sting on my cheek at the same time I heard the smack of her hand hitting my skin. My head flung to the side. I bit my lip and grabbed her hand that had just smacked me. Damn, she was stronger than she looked. The pain unleashed the caged animal that growled inside of me. I was pissed she was back; furious she had left in the first place; hornier than I’d been in years. She made me feel fucking insane.
I snapped.
My free hand not holding onto her wrist flew to the back of her neck. She gasped, right before my lips smashed down onto hers, and I forced myself in. She moaned, fighting against me, but it only made me harder. I was being an asshole but I couldn’t stop. It was an angry kiss. Filled with all the tension between us, and all the hatred she claimed she had for me. She fought back. With every thrust of my tongue in her mouth, she answered me, fighting for her own dominance over me, and fuck it, if I would let her have that.
She was mine. She always had been. When she showed signs of submitting to me, my grip on her loosened, but our mouths still moved together. My dick jumped, pressing too damn tight against my zipper when she rocked into me and moaned into my mouth at the same time.
Finally. Five years of wanting and I finally had her in my arms again. It was heaven.
Until I felt a sting on my tongue from her teeth.
“What the—,” I groaned, pushing back from her, wiping my lips with the back of my hand. A small drop of b
lood showed on my hand. “You just fucking bit me.”
She breathed quickly and heavy. Even in my rage, my eyes dropped to her tits, which were rising and falling. Gorgeous.
“Keep your hands and your lips off me.” She snapped her fingers and then wiggled her index fingers, redirecting my attention to her eyes.
“You liked it,” I hissed, leaning in close to her. The color of the sun flashed in her angry, beautiful eyes and it spurred me on. “Your lips are swollen; your cheeks are flushed pink.” I brushed her right cheek with the back of my knuckles and saw her lean, fleetingly, into my hand. She fucking loved it. Her body couldn’t lie to me even if her words could. “I bet your nipples are tingling, too. They’re pressed tight against the fabric of your tank top, straining for relief. I bet your panties are wet and your thighs are trembling.”
She blinked and her eyes cleared. “You’re an asshole.”
“And you drive me fucking crazy, and aren’t telling me anything I don’t already know.” I pointed toward the hallway that led to the upstairs. “Get upstairs to bed.” She glared at me and I dared her to argue. “Go. Now. Use my old room or I’ll call Bull and have him come haul your ass to the club.”
As soon as her footsteps hit the top of the stairs, I heard my old door slam shut. She shut the door so hard my walls rattled all the way downstairs. I stood in the center of my living room, glaring at the stairway, panting. Horny, angry, and still so fucking turned on by Liv that I wanted to march up to her room and throw her down on my bed. She had always been cute, but once she turned fifteen and started growing hips and a chest, she was the hottest thing I’d ever seen. Five years hadn’t changed that one bit. But Liv angry? When she got mad, she was a wicked goddess.
Minutes of silence droned by, as I stood there doing nothing except trying to quench the rage and emotions coursing through my veins. When I realized nothing in my house would work to help me calm down, I called Finn, an Aussie who showed up one day out of nowhere. He put his time in working in our Classic Automotive Restoration Garage, and helped at the salvage yard. No one knew his story or why he showed up in Northern Minnesota, but he put in his years as a prospect, proved his trust and loyalty, and finally earned his club patch last winter.
“I need you at my house, like twenty minutes ago,” I told him as soon as he answered. I could hear bass beating and the unmistakable laughter of club whores in the background.
“I’m a bit busy, mate.” He groaned and I no longer wanted to know what he was doing. The sounds were obvious.
“Finish up quickly and get here. I need you watching Liv. I’ve got shit to do.”
I rubbed my eyes as I heard him talk to someone on the other end of the phone, “Sorry, girl, I got a job to do.” I heard her whine before he spoke to me. “Be there in ten, brother.”
I hung up and then went to the fridge to grab a beer while I waited for him to show up. Just one to take the edge off until I could get to the club.
It was like Daemon enjoyed killing me slowly. As soon as I got over the shock from his lips on me, my body succumbed without my brain’s permission to the perfect feel of his skin on mine, to the familiar way his body moved against me, and the undeniable way he could turn me on in one angry kiss.
I didn’t slap him because I was pissed at him. I hit him because I was pissed at myself, disappointed and angry that I continued to make one shitty decision after another.
Now I was stuck in his old room, banished to the room as if I was a child in time-out, but it was more painful than the living room. The memory of my attack in his living room paled in comparison to the memories that this room held for me. This small room, the small bed that still had the same sheets, the same pictures of Daemon’s childhood, was where the happiest times in my life took place. There had been solace and peace in Daemon’s room where we’d drink stolen beer and hack up a lung over smoking our first cigarettes. We’d pour over the Harley magazines, planning and designing which ones we would get for our first bike.
Later, it was where we planned our escape from Jasper Bay.
I stood in the middle of Daemon’s room, willing my heated pulse to slow and at the same time, pressed my fingertips to my lips where he had just kissed.
God, he was good at that.
Even when I wanted to be mad at him and continue to hate him, his hands touched my body, his lips touched my skin and my brain melted into a puddle of mush where the only words I could think were, more, please, yes, oh, my God… over and over again.
My hand went to my stomach, rubbing it absentmindedly like I tended to do, and the move brought the guilt and my reality back to the forefront of my mind. Daemon was never going to be able to be a part of my future.
I didn’t care about Travis enough to stay with him, even for the baby’s sake. He was in love with me, and no matter how much safer Travis was for me, my heart, and no matter how hard I tried, I would never be able to muster any emotion for him that lead toward being greater than friendship.
It wasn’t fair to him to let him think we could ever be what he wanted, even if I was growing his child inside of me. He’d be a part of the baby’s life regardless; but as I stared at the pictures of Daemon, Ryker, and me as teenagers, tacked above the old pine headboard of Daemon’s bed, I knew I didn’t love Travis.
I also wouldn’t kill his child. We’d figure it out. Unless of course, he really had gone dirty and was in bed with the Black Death like Daemon claimed.
Then that would change everything. It stung to think of another man who claimed to love me, turning on me, and willing to abandon me when I needed him, if that’s what he had done.
I didn’t know how long I sat in the room, staring at the photos on the walls and deciding what to do about Travis, but eventually I heard the familiar sound of a motorcycle pulling up the long driveway. When I looked out the window, I watched a man climb off his bike and walk in that manly way all men have, strutting confidently to the front door. Seconds later, another figure headed out to the bikes. The front door slammed behind him and shook the window in Daemon’s bedroom.
I watched as Daemon started his engine, revved it a few times as he stared at the window I was looking out, before he sped out angrily down the driveway. The tires fishtailed until the traction took hold and in his wake, he left a cloud of dust and gravel flying all over the place.
I heard the rumble of the bike in the distance long after it disappeared from my sight.
It wasn’t long before I heard the familiar thumping of boots headed up the wooden stairs. They creaked under the weight of the man who I knew was coming for me. I only had seconds to wonder where he went and who had shown up to guard me before there was a soft, knocking sound on the bedroom door.
“Who are you?” I asked when I opened the door. An intimidatingly tall man stood in the hallway. His blond hair was buzzed short and wrinkle lines ran across his forehead. I had never seen him before but he wore the standard Nordic Lords cut. His presence consumed the hallway in front of me.
Irritation at the night, the kiss that I could still feel on my lips, and being left alone with a stranger while Daemon did who in the hell knows what boiled in my veins.
“Finn.”
“Where’d Daemon go?”
The man smirked. It told me everything I needed to know. He went to the club. Instead of answering, Finn, who didn’t look any more pleased to be standing in front of me than I was to see him standing there, held up my phone.
“It’s blowing up. You should probably answer it.”
Shit. In all the stress, I couldn’t believe I had forgotten to call Travis. I really was a complete shit of a girlfriend.
My head dropped and I reached out, sliding the phone from Finn’s hand. They were inked in alligator scales and my eyes drifted up his forearm where an entire alligator, looking as real as if I was seeing one in a swamp, was wrapped around his entire arm.
“Where are you from?”
The man’s lips twitched and then his pale
eyes darkened. “Australia, mate.”
I practically swooned over the accent. Shit, that was hot. My eyes bugged out. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He shrugged and took a step back, ignoring my question. My phone vibrated in my hand and I looked down. Ten missed calls and more missed texts. “Call the man back before his head explodes, yeah?”
I shrugged, but followed him down the stairs, tired of being in Daemon’s room.
My grip on the phone tightened as soon as Travis answered on the first ring. His panicked voice came through the phone. “Christ, Olivia. I’ve been worried sick about you. Where are you?”
I looked around Daemon’s living room and decided to ignore the fight we’d have if I told him exactly where I was. “I’m safe. That’s all that matters.”
“Olivia…”
“Fine,” I snapped, harsher than I intended. “I’m at Daemon’s.”
Travis hissed in a breath. So much for not having that fight. “With Daemon?”
“No. He’s probably looking for you. He thinks you had something to do with tonight.”
My statement, that was more of an accusation, was met with silence. I didn’t mean to accuse him—it just came out. The thought of him betraying me like Daemon thought he did riled me. Hypocritical, considering I was keeping my own secrets from Travis.
“And you,” he finally said, slowly.
“Of course not.” But whether it was true or not, Daemon had planted seeds of doubt. My voice wasn’t as confident as I hoped it would be.
I felt Travis’s desperation through the phone—the panic in his tone and the sadness that I doubted him. “Let me come get you.”
I should have said yes. I couldn’t, and I didn’t know why. Regardless of what had happened to me in Daemon’s house five years ago, even having just re-lived it, this home had always been where I felt the safest.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Finn with a grin wide and wild like the alligator wrapped around him. He shook his head back and forth slowly. I wasn’t leaving his watch without a fight.
