Point of Return

by Stacey Lynn

  “Hey,” Faith said, lightly touching my arm to get my attention. “I gotta get to work. I take it by all of this that you’re probably not able to do lunch tomorrow.”

  No, it’s fine.” I saw Travis frown before he looked away from me. Inwardly, I groaned. The one thing Daemon was right about was that I knew Travis didn’t want me to have anything to do with my past life, friends included. I pointed my thumb toward the desecrated shop. “Not like I have anything else going on now.”

  “Right.” She took a step back and waved to Gunner. Travis looked away from her like she didn’t exist, like he hadn’t known her since we were kids. “I’ll see you later then.”

  I waved my hand in the air. “Later, Faith.”

  When she was gone, I said good-bye to Gunner after he promised to keep in touch with the progress of repairing the ruined shop or finding something new.

  It left Travis and me alone on the sidewalk, staring at my charred building and saying nothing to each other. My eyes scanned the block to see if there were any Nordic Lord members somewhere nearby, where I couldn’t see them, reporting everything about my whereabouts back to my dad, or Daemon. It made me stay stiff and too distant from Travis.

  Somehow, I couldn’t get over the thought that Travis had something to do with this. That Daemon was right and Travis was working with Black Death, and that our relationship had crossed some irreparable line that we never drew in the first place; although, I supposed that had already happened.

  “Well,” I finally said, clapping my hands together before digging my keys out of my purse. “I’ve got some things in storage that I can use to get me by. Clothes… at least I think so. I can go through that and come by your place in about an hour?”

  His lips twitched and I knew he was debating what to say. Finally, after what seemed like minutes of silent, angry air filling the distance between us, Travis reached out his hand. I took it slowly, and let him pull me next to him. It wasn’t passionate or loving, but I was close to him and once I was, I felt his shoulders drop.

  “I hate that you were with him last night. I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t stand that you went to him and not me.”

  “I didn’t—”

  “You did.” He faced me, and looked at me like he was searching for something, only I didn’t know what he wanted to find. “Maybe you didn’t go to him, but you certainly didn’t come to me.”

  “It just happened so fast, and then I was there. I didn’t know what else to do, Travis.” It was all the truth. Maybe I could have gone to his place once he called. But the fact that I didn’t think of him for the first hour I was gone, was telling enough. At least to me, and I wondered if that’s what Travis was feeling. My silence spoke volumes in itself.

  “Is there anything else you need here?”

  I looked around the inside storage unit, and then back to the boxes and suitcases at Travis’s feet. Nothing else was needed. I knew that. A part of me wished I would have left town and never looked back.

  The other part, the part I was just starting to remember, eyed the bright blue tarp in the back. I hadn’t looked at it in five years, and suddenly, my fingers were itching to remove it. To run my hands down the custom-made Harley Super Low my dad bought for me on my sixteenth birthday. I wondered if the lime green metallic paint was as sparkly as it used to be. At one time, it was my pride, my baby. Now, it was relegated to the back corner, covered in plastic.

  Finally, I noticed Travis looking at me strangely, his eyes trying to figure out what I was thinking.

  “No,” I lied. “I’ve got everything I need.”

  I followed him out of the storage unit and watched him pull down the heavy metal door, the sound vibrating and echoing through the hallway, before I slid the padlock into place and locked it.

  “Tell me. Tell me you didn’t only send her with that piece of shit cop, but that it wasn’t your idea in the first place.”

  I stood facing Bull and all his hellish anger while he towered over me with nostrils flaring and his hands cracking his knuckles at his sides. I wouldn’t back down from him, not when he stormed into my room at the club, where I came after Liv left my house yesterday, tucked neatly next to Travis in the cab of his truck.

  “It’s the only way, and she said she’d help.”

  “You put her in the middle of a turf war!”

  “She’s got her own reasons for needin’ to do this, Bull. It’s the quickest way and I gave her a burner phone. She’ll let me know if anything seems odd. All I told her to do is keep me posted on where Travis is on the nights when we know the Black Death have shipments coming in. She’ll be safe. And we’ll have a man on her close by.”

  His hands curled into fists before he released them, only to crack his knuckles that were inked with the name of our club, one letter on each finger and thumb. “If this turns bad, it’s on you.”

  With the threat made, he stormed out of my room, slamming the door behind. I looked at the unmade bed, wanting to crash back into it, but knew that I couldn’t. There were too many things up in the air right now, and my priority was figuring out why in the hell someone threw a bomb through the GetInked tattoo shop. It had to be an attack to get to me. Bombing a closed shop didn’t make any sense unless whoever it was, was trying to scare Liv.

  By the time I was on my bike in the parking lot, Jaden was next to me, silently giving me a look that told me he had my back. I nodded and the two of us revved the engines, peeling out of the parking lot. It was the moments I was on my bike I always felt the freest. Some days I wondered if I had made the right decision in joining the club.

  Maybe things would have been easier—better—if I had left the club the night Liv was shot.

  Maybe, if I hadn’t made the decision to follow in my dad’s footsteps and taken his place in the club, shit wouldn’t have gotten so messed up with the two of us.

  What in the fuck was I supposed to do? Liv had been shot and her mom killed. My brother, Ryker, had shot and killed our dad. He took off, leaving me only a message that he was sorry he fucked up. My dad was dead. The only other blood family I had, disappeared.

  I had no one left except Liv and the club. The family that she hated and wanted to escape, was the only one I had who would make sure our enemies would pay for what they did to her and me. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. No. I knew that, had it happened all over again, I would have made the exact same decision. Just like I told her.

  Slowing down at the meet point, I pulled over into a park just off the side road on the southern edge of town. Jaden pulled up next to me and we both stared at the Chief of Police, not too far from us.

  “You got this?” Jaden asked, looking at me through his mirrored shades. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I knew they were saying, ‘don’t fuck this up’.

  “I got it.” I nodded, kicked my stand down, and climbed off the bike. I didn’t look back to see if he believed me, and I walked the few yards to the Chief. He pushed off the side of his car and met me in the middle, keeping an eye on Jaden the whole time.

  I handed him an envelope full of cash and watched him slip it in his belt at his back. We’d paid him off for almost twenty years, enough money to keep him happy and to keep us out of shit when need be. Which wasn’t often since the club had gone clean, but still necessary when shit like last night came up.

  “One of your deputies not following orders?” I asked.

  He gave away nothing. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, Knight.”

  I took a step closer until my face was inches from his. My eyes narrowed and I glared at him, letting him see the stress and anger of the last forty-eight hours show all over my face and my posture. I felt like I was one wrong word or move away from wanting to kill the son of a bitch. Then, Travis would be next.

  “If we find out your shop is skimming from us and Black Death, you won’t like the results.”

  His eyes flashed surprise. “None of my guys are working with the Death. You know this.�
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  “I don’t know,” I growled, leaning into the Chief’s personal space. “And that’s the problem. What in the fuck happened last night at GetInked?”

  “I’ve got my guys working on it. Maybe you know a bit more since it was your girl.”

  I loved that even though Liv wasn’t actually mine, but was in fact with Travis, everyone in town knew she still belonged to me. How long would it be before I just threw her over my shoulder, and forced her to stay with me until she came to her own senses? Not long, just until we could get rid of Travis.

  “Keep an eye on Larson,” I warned him. “Or I’ll take care of him.”

  The Chief gave me a strange look. Then he rolled his shoulders and placed his shades over his eyes, adjusting his hat and his belt that was hidden by his gut. “You threatening a cop, Knight? There’s a lot of shit I can overlook, but that’s not one of them.”

  I had already turned to walk away, but I looked back without stopping. “I’m not threatening anything, Chief. Have a good day.”

  Jaden and I waited on our bikes until his cruiser went around a corner and was out of sight.

  “Can’t piss him off, Daemon.”

  I ignored the warning. The Chief of Police had been in our pockets for twenty years. I could grab him by the balls if I wanted to and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

  As soon as we were back at the clubhouse and I had taken my helmet off, Switch stalked across the lot straight toward me. He was the second in command behind me, older than dirt, and got his name because he was good with a blade. The stories told in the club about him were legendary. Like the time he gutted a man from throat to nut-sack. I didn’t know if they were true or not, and he never answered one way or another.

  He was one of the few men I never wanted pissed at me.

  “Get your ass in the ring, or under a club bunny.”

  Wearing garage coveralls and carrying an extra-large t-wrench that hung tightly at his side and with his chest puffed out while he breathed heavily, he looked coiled and ready to spring at any moment.

  I only made it two steps before he was in front of me.

  He pointed his greased-up finger at my chest. “Now isn’t the time to have your head clouded by some pussy you missed out on years ago.”

  My lip twitched and I crossed my arms over my chest. He may be pissed off at me, or worried I couldn’t handle my own shit, but I was still his V.P. Fuck if I was going to bow to him, even though he was intimidating as hell with his tall frame, baldhead, and beady eyes. Switch could force a weaker man into submission with one glare.

  “My head’s fine, both of them. But thanks for the warning.”

  I pushed past Switch, blowing out a frustrated breath. Switch was right. I needed to hit something. Mentally, I was too exhausted to fight though. The only person I wanted to hit was probably enjoying a morning in bed with Liv.

  Fuck.

  I slammed the door to the club, ignoring the side looks of the members. Bull was there, and so was another member, Puck. Finn pinned me with his eyes as I walked by and I nodded for him to come to my room.

  “What’s up?” He leaned against the doorway to my room, arms crossed against his chest and ankles crossed at his feet. He was one relaxed looking guy all the time. I never understood how he ended up in Jasper Bay and what in the hell would make him want to join a motorcycle club. Besides the tat and scarred arms, he looked too fuckin’ pretty.

  “I want you on Liv for the next forty-eight hours. If she so much as leaves Travis’s place, I want to know where she’s going.”

  “Could work just as well if you threw her on your bike and dragged her back here, mate.”

  I ignored him and his pussy-sounding accent. That was the only thing I’d thought of since I sent her with him yesterday. How I could have demanded she came to the club and kept her out of all this bullshit, but it was too late for changing minds now.

  I waved a hand, dismissing him. “Get the hell outta here.”

  “You got it, brother.”

  By the time I headed back to the main room, my head was cloudy and heavy from beer and my stomach was hungry. Members were slung all over the couches, chilling out with a drink in hand and a variety of sports on the dozen TVs that hung on the walls around the room. I curled up to a spot at the bar and surrounded myself with my brothers and beer.

  Lots of beer.

  By the time Missy came up to me, I was game for anything. Liv was right about her, too. Missy was young. Too young for me to be touching, but I knew she didn’t want anything other than to escape her hellhole of a life.

  Maybe she should leave town and go to college like the good little girl she used to be. I thought about telling her we were done. Telling her to leave the club and not look back before she was sucked into the madness and it ruined her.

  Then her soft hand went right to the crotch of my jeans and I quit giving a shit about her, and thought only about what she could give me.

  A few hours to escape.

  “I missed you last night.” Missy was smiling at me, but I was focused on what her hand was doing to my dick.

  I closed my eyes and pretended she had long brown hair that I wanted to wrap my hands around. I pretended her blue eyes shined like gold. She wasn’t close to being anything like Liv. And I was close to not caring so I kept my mouth shut before I sent her away. While easy to get in bed, Missy came with a world of problems. Mostly those problems revolved around her dad who thought it made him a man to take the back of his hand or his fists to his old lady and his daughter.

  I opened my eyes and confirmed my assumptions. Missy’s purple cheek told me she’d had a shitty weekend and needed to forget. I understood.

  Her hand squeezed my hard dick tighter.

  I caved.

  Fuck it.

  Liv knew I wanted her, but I couldn’t become a monk while I waited for her to sort her shit out. “Wanna forget shit?”

  Missy nodded. I grabbed her hand and pushed her ahead of me, following her to my room.

  I opened my eyes, wrapped in Travis’s warm arms, and his body pressed up against mine. His morning erection was evident when he shifted against me and his hands rested on a small sliver of skin exposed between my underwear and tank top.

  “You’re awake,” he said softly into the crook of my neck. His warm breath on me sent unwelcome shivers down my spine but I didn’t move away either.

  “I am.” I pressed my backside against him and he let out a low groan of pleasure in my ear. I shivered visibly and gasped as he gently bit down on my ear lobe, before soothing it with his tongue. His hands began slowly removing my underwear. I did nothing to encourage him, but I let him remove my clothes all the same.

  His hand reached out and cupped the back of my neck, pulling me to face him. His eyes pinned me to the mattress. They were filled with anger and jealousy, and I couldn’t do anything to make him feel better about us.

  I should have stopped it.

  My mind flashed to Daemon handing me the burner phone the day before, regret on his face, and fear. The club needed to know what Travis was doing. I had barely touched him or spoken to him since we got to his apartment yesterday. If I stopped Travis now, he would know something was different. I couldn’t let that happen yet.

  “I want you,” he told me, his breathing already quicker. I pressed my hands to his chest, my fingers hesitating before I moved down to his hardened and impressive length. Wrapping my hand around him, I pulled gently and arched into him. The tip of his erection brushed against me and my eyes rolled back into my head.

  “Tell me you love me, Olivia.”

  I couldn’t. So I did the only thing I could. I wrapped my hands around his ass and pulled him against me, hard and fast. His dick slid against my wet opening and his head dropped to my forehead.

  “Travis.” I breathed his name as one of his hands cupped my breast, tugging at it until it hurt before he bit down and soothed it away with harsh flicks of his tongue. His o
ther hand went down to my opening, and without warning, he pressed two fingers harshly into me. He began moving them inside of me.

  I groaned, unable to prevent the pleasurable feelings he caused, even if my mind was riddled with guilt and shame over giving him this moment when I knew it was already over.

  His fingers grew wet from me as he pumped in and out of me; I wrapped one leg around his waist and braced myself with my hands on his biceps. His muscles tightened against my hands as I continued to move my hips, fucking his fingers greedily.

  “Travis,” I moaned and his thumb pressed down on my clit. It felt so good. Too good. Better than I deserved from him.

  “Tell me you want me,” he said before his lips forcefully crushed to mine. His tongue thrust into me. It wasn’t a loving kiss. It was full of hurt and pain, like he was trying to devour me and suck out all the pain I had caused him. Even then, his hands continued to pump in and out of me, his fingers curling against my insides and his thumb flicking my clit so strongly there was a sting with every burst of ecstasy he created.

  Without warning he pulled at my hips and turned me until only my ass was in the air, the rest of me pressed into the bed by his other hand. His hand stayed curled around my neck as he pressed his thickness into me.

  “God,” I cried out. “That feels…” so fucking good. The end of my sentence was just a thought as he powerfully thrust into me. His hand on my neck kept me from being able to move. I was completely pinned to the bed, my hands grasping at the sheets as he angrily moved inside of me.

  There was nothing nice about the sex. It was hot, and passionate, but full of anger and jealousy. And I let him give it to me. I let him keep a rough hand on my neck and one hand on my hip. He held me so tightly it was sure to causes bruises by the time he was done, but I didn’t stop him as he pounded into me repeatedly.

  I deserved it. I didn’t love him, and now he knew it.

  “I’ve loved you since we were kids, Olivia.” He ground out and I could feel the pain with every punctuated word that was timed with every inward thrust into my body. His balls slapped against my clit, making everything that much more pleasurable.