Tame Me (Book #1 in the Blood Brothers MC Series)

by J. A. Collard

  “So tell me, Lu, what was it like?” I ask, nudging her on the shoulder as we sit cross-legged on Quill’s bed.

  “Oh, Jasmine, I’ve never felt like this before.”

  “Even with Russell?” I ask, stunned.

  “Even with Russell,” she confirms. “Look, don’t get me wrong, I loved Russell and the sex was good. But with Hawke, it’s a whole new level. He’s a biker for god’s sake,” she says, laughing.

  “I know what you mean there.” I wink.

  “Is it like that with Quill?”

  “Oh, Luisa,” I sigh and place my hands over my face. “He’s just so different from Nic.”

  “Different is good, isn’t it?”

  “God, yes,” I giggle. “I never thought sex could be like this. Quill makes me feel like a different woman. With him, I’m taking chances and letting myself go.”

  Luisa reaches over to and rubs my arm. “I’m so happy for you.”

  “I’m scared though, Lu. He’s a biker, and he’s had a lot of women. What if he gets bored of me?”

  Luisa slaps my leg.

  “Ouch,” I complain. “That hurt.”

  “How can he get bored of you? Hawke told me last night that he’s never seen Quill so hung up on someone before. Apparently, he went crazy when he found out you left the compound yesterday without telling him you were leaving. Hawke and Quill never fight, but when he questioned Hawke and he knew you had left, Quill started throwing bottles around. Hawke had to calm him down. So, Jasmine, do you think a guy like that could get bored when he obviously has strong feelings for you?”

  I smile. “He went crazy, huh?”

  “He sure did.” She giggles.

  “Poor Hawke, I lied to him to get out of there, and he copped the wrap.”

  “Don’t worry about Hawke,” Luisa says. “He’s a big boy. I’m sure he knew you were leaving without telling Quill.”

  “He’s a good guy. I know he is. I think you’ve done well with that one.”

  “Can you believe we’re both dating bikers? Who would have thought?”

  “I know, right?” I respond.

  The day goes by quick as Luisa and I make plans for the week at the store. We both have an early morning tomorrow, so after having a delicious dinner prepared by Daisy, we say goodnight and head to our rooms.

  I gaze around Quill’s room. I can still smell his scent lingering. God, I miss him. I open one of his cupboards and see a line of T-shirts hanging. I grab one that says Blood Brothers MC on the front and inhale it. It smells of him. I remove all my clothes and decide to sleep in his T-shirt. I switch on my iPod and let Adele’s voice take me away as I lie down on his bed, hugging his pillow to me.

  I hear my mobile ringing and realize I’ve fallen asleep with my iPod still on. It’s midnight, and I quickly grab my phone from the side table and smile when I see Quill’s name on the display.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey, babe, did I wake you?” His voice sounds husky like he’s tired.

  “No, not at all,” I lie as I yawn. I hear his deep laughter, and then I ask, “Is everything okay?”

  “I love that you worry about me,” he says in a low voice. “We’re good, babe. We’ve just stopped for the night at a motel, and I’m in bed thinking of you.”

  I try to ignore the tightening in my core, but it’s hard when all I can picture is him lying in the bed completely naked.

  “You’re being good, aren’t you, Jasmine?”

  “What do you mean am I being good? I always am.” I laugh and fall back on the bed, enjoying the light play talk.

  “I mean, you’re not touching yourself?”

  I can’t believe he’s asking me this. But now that I think of it, touching myself doesn’t sound so bad when he’s now got me all hot and bothered.

  “I want to touch you, Jasmine. Fuck, I miss you.”

  I swallow hard as I picture him touching me just like he did last night.

  “I wish you could touch me, Quill. I miss you too,” I find myself saying.

  “Soon, babe. When I get back, I’m gonna make up for all the nights we’ve missed together.”

  “Promises, promises,” I say, teasing.

  “You’re playing with fire, babe.” His voice sounds strained, and I picture him touching himself. I hear a beep coming from his phone. “Fuck, gotta go. Gotta take this. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” I say with disappointment. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Miss you.”

  “Miss you too, babe.”

  And then he’s gone.

  I switch my iPod off and, feeling a little thirsty, I decide to go out to the kitchen to get some water.

  The lights are still on, but it was quiet. Some of the boys left behind are lingering around the clubhouse playing cards. I heard laughter in the corner and noticed Bear is kissing a club whore. I look down at what I’m wearing, feeling a little worried about my bare legs in Quill’s tee, but shrug it off. When compared to the other women, I was wearing a grandma nightie.

  I quietly opened the door to the kitchen, not wanting to gain any attention, and switch on the light. I peek in the fridge and grab a bottle of water and take a big gulp. It is warm tonight, so the cold water feels like heaven.

  “Bitch.”

  I turn around to see who that voice belongs to and see Jess standing there leaning against the wall. She looks drunk. Her makeup is all smeared across her face, and I can see she’s struggling to hold herself up by the looks of her shaky legs. I choose to ignore her and state calmly, “Whatever, Jess, you’re drunk.”

  I put the lid back on my water and close the fridge. I hear the clicking of heels and turn around to see Jess walking toward me in stilettos that are a ridiculous height. She sways on her feet and then holds onto the bench to gain her composure.

  “You, you fucking bitch,” Jess yells again and points one of her fake nails in my chest.

  I grab hold of her finger and push it toward her and yell back, “What the fuck is your problem, Jess?”

  “You are my problem, bitch,” she says, pushing me until I hit the wall. She’s clearly nuts.

  “You think you’re so smart, don’t you, Jasssmmmiiine? You come into my club! And take my man! And ride on the back of his bike! And sleep in his bed! Well,” she says, leaning her face into mine, “don’t get too comfy sleeping there, because it won’t last long. Quill called me this morning saying he didn’t mean what he said the other night and that he misses me.”

  Anger rises within me as she grabs my hair at the nape and slams my head against the wall. I’m shocked; she’s taken me by surprise. She really is crazy.

  I push her off me with all the strength I have, which forces her to land on her ass. I storm toward her and grab her by her hair. I’m just about to slap her when I hear, “What the fuck is going on here?”

  I know that voice. I look up and there’s Trigger.

  “Trigger, get this bitch off me,” Jess screams. Trigger quickly removes my hand out of Jess’s hair and helps her up. He glares at Jess and I can tell he’s angry by the way his chest puffs in and out.

  “Jess, get the fuck out of here. You’ve been warned by Prez already. Don’t make me throw you out.”

  She walks up to him and puts her hand on his chest in a seductive way and says, “Trigger, let me make you feel good. I’ll make it real good if you get rid of that bitch.” She lifts her chin to me to make sure he knows who she means. Trigger removes her hand from his cut and I can see the rage coming out of him like steam.

  “You want me to go against my prez so you can have him to yourself? Not gonna happen, Jess. Now you give me no choice but to throw you out.”

  Trigger grabs her by the arm and storms out, but not before she says, “Remember, he always comes back to me.”

  I’m still in shock long after she’s gone. Is she telling the truth? I did see him on the phone this morning and he was whispering. Could he just be using me? But last night felt so perfect, he’d made love t
o me. I look down at my hands; I can’t believe I’d been moments away from smacking her in the face. This is not me; this whole situation is not me. I don’t need drama in my life. Fuck, I’ve had enough of drama to last a lifetime and now this. Fuck this, she was right. I don’t belong here at this club. What was I thinking? And then I think of Quill, that gorgeous smile and the way my stomach does summersaults when he is around. Stop it, Jasmine. He’s using you!

  I make my decision. I’m leaving. I storm into his room and pack all my stuff. I quickly dress in my jeans and hoodie and walk out with my bag in hand. Trigger is nowhere in sight. He must have gone to his room after he threw out Jess, so I decide to call a cab. When I get to the front gate, Bear is there staring at me. Then his eyes focus on my packed bag.

  “Going somewhere, darlin’?”

  “Yeah, look, I really need to get home. My friend’s sick and needs me,” I lie, but it’s only a little lie, I tell myself.

  “Sorry, darlin’, but Prez left us strict instructions that we have to keep you safe and not let you out of our sight. So you’re not going anywhere tonight. I can take you to see your friend tomorrow.”

  I start to get annoyed. “Listen, my friend needs me, and I’m leaving. Now do I have to call Quill and tell him you’re not helping his woman? He knows about me going.”

  “He does?” Bear asks suspiciously.

  “Sure he does. What do you think I was going to do, leave without telling him?”

  He stares at me for a while before he smiles and says, “Open the gates.”

  A member of the club, who I’m not familiar with, opens the gates and I glance over to Bear and say, “Thanks, Bear. I’ll be sure to tell Quill what a help you’ve been.”

  He shoots me a wink and holds the gate open for me. Bear looks scary. I can see where the name Bear came from, but he’s a softy at heart. The cab is there waiting for me and I quickly run to it and give the cab driver my address before Bear changes his mind.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jasmine

  I quickly pay for the cab ride and enter my apartment. It’s dark and quiet without Luisa. Fuck! Luisa! She’s going to wonder where I’ve gone. I’ll call her in the morning.

  I take my bag with me and head to my bedroom. I undress and slip into bed, feeling tired from all of today’s events. But sleep doesn’t claim me. I grab my iPod, put my earphones in, and press play. “Treat You Better” by Shawn Mendez plays in my head and I fall asleep as the lyrics take me to another place.

  My alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m. and I quickly shower and dress for the busy day ahead. I’ve told myself that I’m not going to think about what happened last night. I have a business to run and no man is going to come between that, even if that man is Quill.

  Making myself a cup of coffee, I hear my phone ringing and see that Luisa is calling.

  “Lu?”

  “Jasmine, what’s going on? Where are you? Bear said you had a sick friend. What the hell?”

  “Yeah well, that’s clearly not the truth. I just needed a reason to leave. I’ll tell you more at the shop later, okay?”

  “Fine,” she huffs. “Just tell me you’re okay?”

  “I’m okay. I promise.” God, I’m such a liar.

  “Okay then, I’ll see you soon.”

  “Bye,” I say before I end the call.

  I open the store followed by Ricky, who is ready to start the coffee run.

  “Can I make you a coffee, Jasmine, before the morning rush?”

  “Yes, please. I sure need my caffeine fix this morning.”

  “On it,” he answers.

  I hear the chime ring above the door and see Luisa walk into the store. She has on a cute floral summer dress on and white wedged heels. Her hair is down and she’s staring at me with worry.

  “Morning,” I say.

  “Don’t give me morning, Jazz. What’s going on, and you better tell me, now.”

  “Okay, okay,” I reply just as Ricky hands me my coffee. I smile at him and then raise my brow at Luisa when I see her tapping her nails on the counter.

  “Spit it out, Jazz.”

  I take a sip of my coffee and tell her the events of last night, from going out to the kitchen to get water to how Jess called me a bitch and said that Quill called her that morning apologizing for everything, and that he didn’t mean to throw her out, that he had to do that in front of me. After I finish my story, I take a deep breath and notice Luisa’s mouth is gaping open.

  “Are you telling me that you had her on the floor and you were about to slap her?” She laughs.

  “That’s all you got from that story?”

  “Jazz, you gotta see this from my point of view. I’ve never known you to be violent. I can’t believe you nearly slapped her. I’m sure she deserved it, but wow, good for you.”

  “Yep, I sure was. The bitch had it coming. Luckily, Trigger came in and saved her, because believe me, Lu, I wanted to hit that bitch so hard that I couldn’t see anything other than red.”

  Lu laughs so loud that she catches the attention of the morning customers, who are sitting down with their coffee. She smiles at them with an apologetic look.

  “I’m glad you find this all amusing, because I don’t. Her words cut me like a knife. I can’t stay at the clubhouse. Hell, I don’t even know if I can trust Quill. What if what Jess is saying is the truth?”

  “I honestly don’t know what to say, Jazz. Quill seems crazy about you, and the other night at the party he had Jess thrown out. She could just be lying.”

  “It does explain the mysterious phone call he made yesterday morning though,” I say, frowning.

  “What phone call?” Lu asks.

  “Yesterday morning when I got out of the shower, I heard Quill whispering on the phone, so I sneakily hid behind the bedroom door to see if I could make out who he was talking to, but I couldn’t hear the conversation, and when I walked out the bathroom, Quill looked mad and he didn’t tell me who was on the phone.”

  “How do you know it was Jess?”

  “Who else would it be? He was trying to hide the call, and then Jess told me how he called her that morning to apologize. So I put two and two together, Lu.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I’m shocked.”

  “Yeah well, I’m not. I knew this was too good to be true. I should have learned my lesson with Nic. Men can’t be trusted.”

  Lu leans over and strokes my back. “Don’t say that, Jazz. You need to hear Quill’s side of the story and let him explain.”

  “No, I don’t. Jess fits him better than me. She’s come from the club, and I’m just this girl who comes with a past. I’m not right for him.”

  Luisa shakes her head and is about to say something, but I raise my palm up to her in a gesture to stop, and she holds her words. “Don’t, Lu. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. What is done is done, and so are Quill and I.”

  The chime above the door rings again and I’m saved by my first customer of the day. The morning is busy and Luisa tries on numerous occasions to talk to me further about the Quill situation, but I always change the subject. I love Lu, but I’m not going to give in to this. Not this time.

  As I say my good-byes to Lu at the end of the day, I notice Trigger waiting on his bike outside my shop. He gets up and strides toward me.

  “Don’t bother, Trigger. I’m not coming back. Luisa already tried, and my answer is no.”

  “Look, darlin’, Prez is pissed. When he found out you split last night, well, let’s just say when he gets back, Bear and I are gonna have some explaining to do.”

  “I’m sorry, Trigger. I shouldn’t have just left like that, and please apologize to Bear for me, but I’m not coming back. I don’t belong there.”

  “Jasmine, don’t be fucking stupid,” he states as he places his hands in his jean pockets. He really is a good-looking guy; women walk past us and can’t keep their eyes off him. His green eyes and long black hair styled back is all it takes for women to drop their p
anties for him. That’s not including his strong body and scruffy face. “Don’t let Jess put shit into your head, Jazz. She was just trying to cause trouble.”

  “Yeah well, she succeeded, and she was right. I don’t belong there, Trigger. Now that’s enough. I’m not talking about this with you. I’m done,” I say and attempt to walk away. Trigger reaches out and pulls me by my arm, and I turn around with my eyes focusing on his grip.

  “What am I gonna tell Prez? He said he’s been trying to call you all day.”

  I reach for my phone from my bag and see I have twenty-one missed calls and six messages, all from Quill.

  “Fuck,” I state.

  “You better call him back, darlin’. I’ve never heard Prez so pissed.”

  “Yeah well, I’m pissed too,” I reply, shoving my phone back into my bag.

  “So are you coming back?” Trigger asks, his eyes hopeful.

  “No! Trigger, I’m not. So stop asking me.”

  I turn to head toward my car and hear Trigger yell, “I’ll be watching you, Jasmine. I’m under strict orders to follow you.”

  “Your loss, Trigger. Do what you want.” And with that, I unlock my car door and drive home. I enter my apartment and see Tristan walking to his door.

  “Hey, Tristan,” I say, waving as I reach my door.

  “Hey yourself,” he replies and walks over to me. “Need help with that?” He laughs as he notices me trying to balance my keys and takeout Chinese food.

  “Yes, please.”

  Tristan helps me into my apartment and places my takeout bag on the bench.

  “Where’ve you been, Jasmine? I haven’t seen you since the night of the gala.”

  “Oh, I’ve been about,” I say, turning around to face him. “Want to join me for dinner?”

  “You sure?”

  I walk behind him and unpack the Chinese food. “Of course I’m sure. I could do with the company.”

  “Why, where’s Luisa?” Tristan asks, arching an eyebrow at me.