Wicked Games: MC Romance (Bayou Devils MC Book 8)

by A. M. Myers

  He arches a brow. “Did you? It sounded more like a demand to me.”

  “Will you, Travis Broussard, pretty please tell me something about yourself?” I ask, laying it on thick as I stare up at him and wait for his answer. He laughs, shaking his head.

  “Jesus… like I could say no to you. What do you want to know?”

  For fucks sake.

  I wanna know everything but I need to ease him into this or he will shut down on me in a second. I run through a list of questions in my mind before landing on one and peeking up at him. This is the most softball question I’ve ever fucking heard in my life so there is no way he won’t answer it.

  “Are you from Baton Rouge?”

  He shakes his head. “No.”

  “Where are you from?” I ask and he scowls as we pull to a stop at a light, searching my face. Jeez, I thought it was a softball question but I guess not. Or maybe he’s locked down so tightly that he finds any question at all probing.

  “I thought it was just one question.”

  I shrug. “I never said that. Come on, Travis. It’s an easy question.”

  “Fine,” he sighs, his gaze locked on mine for a moment before he shakes his head and blows out a breath. “I’m from Texas.”

  “What brought you here?”

  He fidgets in his seat as he turns to look up at the stoplight. “My mom was from this area.”

  “Was?” I ask, my heart sinking for him. Pain splashes across his face and he scrubs one hand down his thigh while the other grips mine tighter and he nods.

  “She died.”

  Looking up at the clear agony on his handsome face, my heart breaks for him but I don’t say the obligatory “I’m sorry” because it was one of the things I hated the most when my mom died. Instead, I raise his hand to my lips and press a kiss to it in a silent show of support. Something that tells him I know I can’t make it any better but I’m here for him and the look he shoots me almost makes me melt in my seat. It’s full of appreciation, relief, and something else I can’t quite name but it makes me feel all kind of gooey inside as I give him a soft smile.

  “Thank you, Rowan,” he whispers, his voice cracking in a rare show of emotion and I nod because I know that more than anything, he just needs me to be here for him right now and that’s what I’m going to do for as long as he lets me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rowan

  “Hey,” Travis whispers in my ear, sneaking up behind me and gripping my hips as I startle and my heart jumps into my throat. I peek over my shoulder at him and he flashes me a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows that has me fighting back a smile of my own. “Having fun?”

  I turn back to the main room where Emma, Ali, Storm, Tate, and Blaze are decorating the nine-foot Christmas tree Blaze hauled into the clubhouse an hour ago in an effort to lift everyone’s spirits. They were all excited to get a little piece of normal but for me, it only reminded me that this is the first Christmas without my mom so I run upstairs and started spying on them from the top landing. Sighing, I shrug. “I guess.”

  “Feel like sneaking away for a bit? I have a surprise for you,” he says, pressing a kiss to my neck, just below my ear and a shiver runs down my spine as I struggle to keep my eyes open. My gaze flicks to the couches in the corner of the room where my brother, Chance, Carly, Smith, Henn, and Kady are all sitting around, talking and Lincoln glances up before leveling a glare at the man standing behind me. Travis’s grip on my hips tightens as he presses another kiss against my skin.

  “What is it?” I ask, ignoring Lincoln’s murderous look as I turn to face Travis. His arms wrap around me as he flashes me a playful smile and presses his body to mine, his gaze heating. I arch a brow and twirl my arms around his neck, fighting back a smile at his terrible poker face. “Oh, it’s like that, is it?”

  “Only one way to find out.”

  “Lead the way, then,” I tell him and he takes my hand. His answering grin is so adorable that I would have done just about anything to see it but he doesn’t need to know that. As he drags me down the hallway, my mind drifts to our date last night. It was simple but also kind of perfect and exactly what we both needed after the stress of the last couple of days. Travis took me to this line of food trucks parked near a cute little park and we got something to eat before walking around for a bit. When we got back to the car, things got steamy and we ended up re-enacting what happened in the clubhouse parking lot the morning we got back from Tawny’s apartment except this time, I wasn’t just getting myself off. Smiling at the memory, I glance up as Travis opens the door to get up to the roof and looks back at me with a twinkle in his eye. If I didn’t already know he had a surprise planned for me, one look at his face would give it away in an instant but I kind of love how he can’t keep a secret to save his life. And the way he’s so excited to do something like this for me just melts my heart every single freaking time.

  “Close your eyes, Princess,” he instructs when we get to the top of the stairs and I arch a brow as I shoot him a look but he doesn’t back down. Finally, I sigh and close my eyes. He gives my hand a squeeze and opens the door at the top of the stairs before leading me out onto the roof. A cool breeze caresses my skin and I shiver, prompting him to pull me into his arms as he presses his lips to the top of my head. “Okay, open.”

  Opening my eyes, I blink a couple of times before taking in the scene in front of me. He has set up an air mattress with pillows and two large, fluffy comforters right in the middle of the roof and I turn to him with a scowl. “What’s this?”

  “I was thinking about last night and you said one of your favorite things was to look at the stars so… ta-da.”

  “Travis,” I breathe, smiling as I drop my head back to look up at the sky. Millions of stars stare back at me and warmth rushes through me at his thoughtfulness as my heart beats a little faster. Turning into him, I throw my arms around his neck and press up on my toes to seal my lips to his. As his arms wrap around my waist and pull me closer, he makes a noise somewhere between a sigh and groan before the tip of his tongue teases my lips, demanding more and I give it to him without a second thought. One hand slips into my hair, cradling the back of my head as his tongue explores and teases my mouth but my entire body begs for more contact. Just when I think he might give me what I want, he pulls away, breathing heavily, and meets my eyes before shaking his head.

  “I really didn’t bring you up here for that…”

  I shoot him a look and he chuckles.

  “Well, not just for that.” He pulls away and takes my hand again. “Come on. Let’s look at some stars.”

  Peeking over at him as he leads me to the air mattress, I can’t help but smile. “This is very cute.”

  “I’m a cute guy,” he answers, shrugging, as he shoves me back onto the mattress and I laugh, bouncing a few times before settling into one spot in the middle of the bed. When I’m comfortable, he lies down next to me and pulls me closer, wrapping his arm around me as I lay my head on his chest. Silence descends over us but it’s comfortable as we both look up at the sky, dotted with millions of tiny little lights and as I stare up at them, I feel more at home here in Baton Rouge than I ever have before.

  “Thank you for this, Travis,” I whisper, turning my head to look at him as he does the same. He smiles and butterflies flutter around in my belly.

  “Anytime, Princess.” He leans down and steals a quick kiss before pulling back and meeting my eyes. “I have a question for you.”

  I nod. “Shoot.”

  “I’ve noticed the tattoo on your ribs and I’ve been trying to figure out what it is since the first time I saw it but I’m at a loss,” he says with a laugh and I smile, despite the pain in my chest, as I cuddle into him. I toy with a loose thread on the sleeve of his t-shirt as I think about the ink embedded on the side of my body and tears sting my eyes.

  “It’s the mountain range where my dad died.”

  He sucks in a breath and places his hand on my cheek, directing
my gaze back to his as his brows knit together and pain flashes through his eyes. Just like last night when he shared his loss with me, he doesn’t anything. Instead he just presses his lips to mine again in a soft kiss that says everything that sounds so trivial when spoken out loud.

  He’s sorry.

  He knows what I’m going through.

  He’s here for me.

  Somehow, when he utters all those things with a kiss instead of words, they mean so much more and my chest constricts as I squeeze my eyes shut, a few tears trickling down the sides of my face. When he finally pulls away, the emotion staring back at me in his green gaze steals the air from my lungs and I can’t cope. He shakes his head before pressing his lips to my forehead and I fucking melt.

  “You have got to be one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, Rowan.”

  I shake my head. “I’m not any different from anyone else. I’ve lost a lot but there are people who have lost more or they were born with no one in their corner fighting for them. I think that would be worse than loving someone only to lose them.”

  He leans in to kiss me again and just as his lips brush mine, a clinking sound echoes through the air, breaking us apart as we look at each other with wide eyes.

  “What the hell was that?”

  He shakes his head before jumping up and creeping over to the edge of the building. When he gets to the edge, he peeks out into the parking lot before hissing a curse and running back over to me. He grabs my hand, his mouth pressed into a thin line, and his eyes hard as he meets my gaze. “We have to go.”

  “What’s going on?” I ask and he sighs, running his hand through his hair.

  “The cops are about to bust in downstairs.”

  My eyes widen. “The cops?”

  “Yeah,” he answers, his gaze flicking everywhere like he’s searching for a threat. “They’ve got fucking S.W.A.T and everything. This is bad, Row… really fucking bad.”

  My heart hammers in my chest as he pulls me off of the mattress before tucking me into his side. We walk back over to the door and duck inside. Once in the stairwell, we hear the front door of the clubhouse slam open and several people yelling and my hands start to shake. He stops halfway down the stairs and presses me against the wall, slamming his lips to mine. It gives me something to focus on, something to distract me from the fear running rampant through my body and when he pulls away, he meets my eyes.

  “I’ve got you, baby, you hear me? You have nothing to be scared of. Okay?”

  I nod even though I have my doubts. “Okay.”

  He kisses me one last time before he laces his fingers with mine and we walk the rest of the way down the stairs, stepping into the hallway. Before we can move in either direction, three police officers charge up the stairs decked out in tactical gear with their guns drawn.

  “Get down!” the first one screams but I’m frozen in place, shaking as I stare at the large weapon pointed at my chest. Travis gives my hand a squeeze, tugging on my arm as he sinks to the floor and I follow his lead as everything swirls around us in slow motion. I can hear yelling in the main area of the clubhouse and someone is crying… “Get on your fucking stomach!”

  I try to catch my breath as I sink to my belly and Travis grabs my hand as two of the officers move on down the hallway, searching for more people, while the one who screamed at me stands over us, his gun still trained on my body. Laying my head flat on the floor, I look at Travis as tears streak down my face. Fury lights up his eyes and his gaze flicks to our babysitter but I give his hand another squeeze to stop him from doing anything stupid.

  “I’m okay,” I whisper, soft enough that the cop standing over us won’t hear me and he searches my face for a moment, desperation and anger shining in his eyes, before nodding.

  “I got you.”

  I nod. “I know.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” the cop hisses, nudging my arm with his boot and Travis’s gaze flicks up toward him as his nostrils flare and his lip curls back in a snarl. My heart hammers in my chest at the thought of him getting hurt because of me and I squeeze his hand again. When he looks back at me, I shake my head and it stops him but it doesn’t do much to quell his rage.

  The other two officers step back into the hallway with Moose, Juliette, Fuzz, Piper, and Nix walking in a single file line in front of them as they train their guns at their backs.

  “Up,” the officer guarding us orders and Travis stands up before helping me to my feet and wrapping his arm around me as I glance at the officer’s last name printed on his name tag.

  Riley.

  He grabs my arm, his fingers digging into my skin as he jerks me out of Travis’s grip and I let out a squeak of pain as tears sting my eyes. Holy shit. That really fucking hurt.

  Travis steps forward, his hands balled into fists at his sides and that snarl on his face again. He looks ready to murder someone and I get the feeling that he doesn’t give a single shit if he goes to jail or gets shot. The thought sends a powerful wave of pain crashing into me and I shake my head as his gaze meets mine.

  “Please, no,” I whisper, still shaking my head. His gaze flicks to mine and he searches my eyes for a moment before he nods but his muscles don’t relax one bit as he falls in line behind me. The three officers lead us down the stairs and into the bar area before instructing us to line up along one wall, opposite from everyone else, and press our backs against it.

  “Keep your hands where I can fucking see them,” Officer Riley orders so I splay my hands flat against the wall as my heart climbs into my throat. Another officer leads Quinn and all of the kids out of the movie theater. Her eyes are wide with fear as she holds baby Magnolia in her arms and the kids are all terrified, some of them screaming as tears run down their chubby little cheeks and others trying to pull away from the group in an attempt to escape. It all breaks my fucking heart.

  “Get your hands off of me,” Emma snarls, pulling the attention of everyone in the room as she and Ali try to step forward to get their children but an officer has a hand on both of them, pushing them back. Nix and Storm both look ready to tear someone’s head off but two other officers have a gun trained on each of them, daring them to make a move. Emma tries to shove the hand away but it’s no use. “I am going to get my children.”

  The officer trying to restrain them glances back at Riley, who nods in approval so he releases them. They march across the room, their heads held high like they are daring one of them to take a shot. When they reach their kids, Ali takes Magnolia from Quinn and gives her arm a reassuring squeeze before walking back over to the wall. Emma crouches down and all four of her kids rush her, throwing themselves into her arms. Her boys, Grady and Corbin, cast very pissed off glances at the officer who tried to stop her and despite the situation, a small smile stretches across my face at their fierce protective streak. No doubt something they learned from their daddy and grandpa.

  “Listen up,” a severe looking woman calls as she walks into the room in a tailored pantsuit and I instantly dislike her. Maybe it’s the blatant arrogance rolling off of her in waves or her smug face as she looks down at all of us but I can’t stand the bitch and I don’t even know her name yet. She stops in the middle of the room, crosses her arms over her chest, and flashes us a cold smile as her gaze flicks over the faces around her. “My name is Sergeant Williams. I’m looking for Logan Chambers.”

  Storm steps forward and raises his hand. “That’s me.”

  “Excellent. Come with me, Mr. Chambers, and the rest of you, wait here.” She snaps her fingers, expecting him to follow her like a dog as she starts walking toward the war room with all the swagger of someone who knows they are in complete control. Storm fights back a snarl as he walks behind her and once they step inside, she shuts and locks the door but it feels like a jail cell slamming shut.

  “Are you okay?” Travis asks as he inches closer to me along the wall, concern in his eyes as he hooks his pinky finger with mine. I nod but despite that, he still scowls and gla
nces down my body before he gaze flicks to my arm where Riley grabbed me. “Did he hurt you? ‘Cause I swear to God, I’ll fucking…”

  “Travis,” I snap and his gaze meets mine again. “Don’t do anything stupid. I’m okay.”

  He nods, his body sagging with relief. “Good.”

  “What do you think this is all about?” I ask and he shakes his head before scanning the room.

  “I don’t know but you don’t bring this much fire power for something small.”

  Uncomfortable silence descends over all of us as we wait for Storm to come back out of the war room and my belly flips as my mind screams for relief.

  I want out of this room.

  I want to get away from these damn cops.

  Oh, and also, I hope to never see Officer fucking Riley again.

  Yelling reaches us through the door of the war room but it’s not Storm losing his temper in there and as I listen to Sergeant Williams demand answers from him, I rack my brain for what any of us could have done that would have brought this level of persecution down on us but I’ve honestly got nothing. These people, despite the biker club reputation they get saddled with, are some of the kindest, most down to earth people I’ve ever met and every single one of them has accepted me into their family, as I am, with no reservations or conditions. They don’t seem like the kind of people who would ever do anything to warrant a fucking S.W.A.T. raid let alone a police investigation.

  The door to the war room swings open and Storm marches out, a scowl on his face and rage in his eyes, followed by Sergeant Williams looking smug as shit as she glances around the room. “Malcolm West, you’re up next. Everyone else can have a seat somewhere and I’ll get to you eventually.”

  As soon as Blaze walks into the room and the door closes, we all congregate around the tables in the middle of the room. Lincoln walks up to me and pulls me into his arms as he releases a sigh.

  “Are you okay?”

  I nod, glancing behind him as Tate walks up. “I’m fine. What about you guys?”