The motorcycle club Dickie belonged to had purchased a ton of land in the area years ago, and had promptly started building houses. They were beautiful country houses and log cabins, each situated on several acres of land that were secluded by birch and maple trees. The driveways to these homes were up to a mile long, winding into the woods and protected by high-tech security systems. I didn’t know what the Mad Dogs did, and according to Penny I didn’t want to, but it was apparent that they were successful at it.
Dickie had made sure that her knowledge was very limited, stating “club rules,” or some crap like that. Personally, I couldn’t live like that, not knowing what my spouse did to bring home money—and a lot of it, too, it seemed. We both knew that his club and the people he associated with were involved in illegal activity, or, at the very least, shady activity. Yet the club also did good things for Brewer’s economy by donating big money to the town every year for improvements. Penny had confessed once that having a positive impact on the town’s economy worked in their favor during the few times of club trouble. I always wondered what kind of trouble that was.
I supposed that it was a case of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours,” along with the old cliché that what we didn’t know wouldn’t hurt us. I’d learned over the years not to ask Dickie too many questions, and on the rare occasions that I’d come home for vacation, he’d made sure that the members had stayed away. Any club business had been kept to the clubhouse, which I’d never been invited to, either. To say that Dickie had protected Penny and me was an understatement. In fact, it was well known that the club members were all very protective of their families.
I smiled when a glimpse of their two-story brick house came into view. Since it was summertime everything was lush and green and full of life. The trees close to the house had grown a lot over the years, thick branches covered in leaves of various shades of green, adding privacy as they fanned outward. I’d helped Penny plant the hydrangea bushes at the front of the house one summer, and the vibrant colors of blue and purple added nice color to all of the green.
I could just make out a trail of smoke coming from the back of the house and wondered if someone was grilling. As we drew closer I caught the whiff of the familiar scent of barbeque. As we circled the drive to the back of the house, my gaze took in the half dozen or so motorcycles that were parked in the gravel leading up to the open deck.
First glance told me that Dickie’s life was about to collide with mine. I’d never met any of the club members before, and had only caught glimpses of them on occasion when I was in town, or if they’d come to the house for something. They’d never stayed though, and if they had come inside Dickie had always rushed them right into his man-cave. Penny and I would share a glance, she would shrug, and we’d go back to whatever we’d been doing.
Now, with him being so sick, the circumstances had obviously changed. It would be unnatural for me not to run into the members of his club. Penny had told me that he’d recently stepped down as the club president, handing the reins over to his VP, who’d just been released from prison. Prison! I couldn’t get over that, but who was I to judge?
Marvin pulled his truck next to the row of bikes and cut the engine. Swallowing down my dislike of him, I turned and smiled. “Thank you for picking me up at the airport.”
“Anytime, gorgeous, I’m just glad you made it home, for Penny’s sake.”
As if he cared anything for Penny. I met his brown eyes, and, as always, there was an interest there that I didn’t reciprocate. He wasn’t a bad looking man. I knew that he was a couple of years younger than Dickie, which put him at fifty-four. I guessed his height to be somewhere around five-foot ten because I was five-foot eight, and he was built like someone who might box or lift weights in competition. Not overly muscled, just powerful and solid-looking.
“I came home for Dickie, too,” I murmured, turning away and reaching for my door handle before he could touch me. I exited the vehicle and walked around to his side to retrieve my bag, which was in the bed of the truck behind the driver side.
Marvin beat me to it. “I got it.” I went to take it away from him, but he pulled it out of my reach. “I’m glad you’re here, too, doll. You don’t come home often enough.”
I rolled my eyes as I walked past him. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him to stop trying so hard to be nice. I didn’t find his charm sincere either. He’d always struck me as being the type of man who, once he got what he wanted from a woman, he was done with her. I knew that wasn’t being fair to Marvin, but he’d always creeped me out, and I tried not to be alone with him.
“Well, look who’s here.” The gravelly welcome came from Dickie. He was resting in a lounge chair, looking frailer than I’d been expecting. His once large bulk was nothing but skin and bones. He was bald now, thanks to the chemo and radiation, his color pale and unhealthy. Even the sparkle that had always been evident in his blue eyes seemed to have dimmed. My heart cried for the once-virile bad boy.
I returned his smile, my gaze meeting Penny’s long enough for me to see the mixed emotions swimming in hers. She got up from where she’d been perched next to Dickie, a welcoming sigh escaping her as she made her way to me.
“God, I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, squeezing me tightly.
Someone whistled, drawing our attention away from each other. “Fuck, Prez, you been keeping this pretty little girl hidden from us?”
I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. I hadn’t been referred to as a girl in a long time. The man talking looked to be about sixty, and was sitting at a picnic table with a few others who were dressed in the same way that he was. They were an odd-looking bunch of mixed ages, long hair, bald-headed, pierced, and tattooed-up bikers. One even had a Mohawk. All were drinking and some were smoking, and the aroma lingering in the air told me that it wasn’t just cigarettes.
“My good looks got her all tongue-tied inside,” the grizzled man continued, giving me a wink while producing laughter from his friends.
“Behave yourself, Odie,” Dickie grumbled, shooting Odie a warning glance. “Iris is family. This is Penny’s baby sister.”
Odie’s eyes grew round, as did those of a couple of the other men who were sitting at the table. Obviously this was the first they were hearing that Penny had a sister. I smiled in the face of their surprise, letting my gaze run over the small group. Odie was clearly the oldest one there. The others were in their thirties, maybe early forties. “Hi, boys.”
“Sister!” someone barked. “Long lost?”
“Where you been all these years?” another asked.
“I been protecting her from you bastards,” Dickie admitted, grinning.
Laughing, Penny went back to Dickie, and it was then that I felt a heavy arm slither across the back of my shoulders. I tensed, knowing without having to look that it was Marvin. My gaze flew to Penny and I rolled my eyes. She shrugged, relaxing close against her husband.
“Odie is the old fuck hitting on ya,” Dickie began, making the introductions. “Next to him is Hotrod, Shooter, Jerry--” they raised their hands, “and—”
“Oh, fuck, the burgers!” The last biker jumped up from the picnic table and rushed over to where the grill was.
“That’s Bug,” Dickie finished.
“You hungry, sis?”
I nodded, pulling away from Marvin without trying to be too obvious. “Starved! But first I want to change into something more comfortable.” I bent to grab the handle to my luggage but Marvin beat me to it, again. I decided to save my breath, spun around, and headed for the steps that lead to the upper deck and back door. “Just give me a few.”
I led Marvin to the spare bedroom, though something told me that he probably knew where it was anyway. Knowing a bedroom was the last place I wanted to be caught alone with him, I stopped at the threshold and motioned him inside. He rolled my luggage to the bed and then turned back to me.
“Thank you.”
“Need any
help?”
With changing? What a jerk. “I think I can manage.”
I didn’t like the way he was looking at me. The way his eyes moved over me made me feel uncomfortable and a little nervous. Over the years I’d been lucky and hadn’t had to spend much time with him, but intuition warned me that my visit this time was going to be different. For one thing, I’d planned on staying a month or more, depending on what happened with Dickie, and under the circumstances Marvin was probably going to be around a lot. I decided right then and there that I needed to set him straight.
“Marvin, let’s get one thing straight so we both know where we stand.”
He held up his hand, stopping me from going further. “You’re not interested, I get it. No need to make a big deal out of it.” He swung around to leave.
I opened my mouth, thought better of it, and snapped it shut again, deciding to let him go. He was right. I should be thankful that he’d been intuitive enough to know what I’d been about to say. My trying to explain the reasons might backfire, and I had to force down the guilt I felt at having been so obvious. Realizing that I was standing there watching him walk away, I breathed in deeply and turned to my suitcase.
Most of the clothes I’d packed were casual--jeans, shorts, and t-shirts, so it wouldn’t be hard finding something suitable for the cookout. I thumbed through the contents, yanking out a pair of shorts and red tee with shoulder cutouts. As I was slipping out of my travel clothes I heard the sound of approaching motorcycles, realizing other bikers had arrived. My mind drifted back to the hunk at the airport. I would probably be seeing him again at some point.
I slipped into a pair of flip flops and made my way back outside, but as soon as I opened the door and saw what was waiting for me I felt like turning around and running back inside. All of a sudden it looked like a biker’s rally. The few men I’d left sitting at the picnic table had suddenly multiplied into thirty or more big, bad-asses all dressed in leather. It was like a smorgasbord of men in every age, size, and appearance.
I met Penny’s eyes with raised brows. She gave me a wink and a shrug and mouthed the words, ‘welcome to my world,’ but she didn’t seem to mind the chaos, her expression revealing that she’d put up with anything for Dickie while he was still with us. She would have before as well, but he’d been adamant about keeping his life with Mad Dogs separate from their lives. It was obvious they were filling their time with as much life as they could.
I reluctantly made my way down the deck steps, hoping that no one noticed me. The idea seemed silly, considering that I seemed to be only one of about eight other women there. Besides me and Penny the others were with the group of bikers, and obviously they were some of the wives or girlfriends. Each leather-clad woman seemed to be clinging to her man. Eventually they parted from their men and made their way toward Penny and Dickie.
They’re gazes moved over me with friendly curiosity as I also walked toward the reclining couple. I noticed that Dickie was looking pale and tired, and my heart cried for the loss that I felt was near. My first instinct was to say something about all the people present, that he needed his rest, but I kept quiet. In spite of his appearance, it was clear that he was happy that his club was around him.
“Iris, let me introduce you to some of our club women,” Dickie began, moving to get comfortable beneath the light blanket arranged around him. “This little cutie--” he motioned to the youngest woman in the cluster around him, “is Angel, short for Angelina. She belongs to Dobie, my road captain.”
Belongs to? I let it slide, returning Angel’s sweet smile and handshake.
“The blond bimbo behind me--” that got him a playful push, “is Foxy, she’s Becker’s old lady. He’s club enforcer. Next is Candy, Roland’s woman, Suzy is Corky’s gal, Tammy is Demon’s lady, and Della belongs to Whip, he’s the new VP.”
“Nice to meet all of you,” I said when Dickie was done. “Please forgive me if I don’t remember your names or who you’re with until I get to know you better.”
“It’ll take some time,” Della smiled. I gauged her to be around my age, a pretty brunette with beautiful green eyes and an air about her that led me to believe that she was the leader, for lack of a better word, among the other women.
“So, how long are you staying?” Suzy asked in a friendly enough tone.
I exchanged a look with Penny. “I haven’t really decided anything, but I will be here for a while.” She nodded, as if in understanding.
“Well, we’ll have to take you out on a girls’ night sometime while you’re here, show you how we club girls party,” Della said. She gave Penny’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Maybe we can talk you into coming along, too.”
“She needs a fucking break,” Dickie grumbled, closing his eyes.
Penny smiled, but didn’t commit to anything. I knew that she wasn’t leaving Dickie’s side much these days. I also had to wonder how well she knew these women, since she’d never been involved with the club. The women seemed very comfortable around Dickie, and it was obvious that they cared about him. I wondered how Penny felt about that, to know that he had a whole other life outside of their marriage that she knew little or nothing about, especially when it was obvious that his club members didn’t exclude their women.
A loud rumble drew my attention to where even more bikers were riding around the corner of the house onto the property. It was a good thing that Penny and Dickie owned a lot of acreage, because their back yard was beginning to look like the parking lot at the county fairgrounds. The new bikers parked their bikes and dismounted. One man in particular drew my interest, and when he turned around I caught my breath. It was the same man from the airport.
I wasn’t ready to face him again so soon. The steamy kiss we’d shared was still too fresh in my mind. Apparently my body was remembering it too, because I felt a betraying tingle in my nipples as they turned hard. Damn! I didn’t need to look down to know that they would be visible in the tee I was wearing. I fought the urge to run my arms over them in an effort to disguise the reaction my body was having to this man.
I knew we’d run into each other again, he was a Mad Dog. I just hadn’t expected it to be so soon. As he and his friends headed our way, I freaked. Since most everyone’s attention was centered on the new arrivals I decided that it was a good time to disappear, at least long enough to gather my wits. I caught Penny’s attention.
“Hey, sis, looks like we’re going need more paper plates and stuff.” I’d already turned to walk away. “I’ll get some.”
“Bring napkins, too,” she called out as I hurried like a chicken toward the steps. “Oh, and there’s a large potato salad in the fridge! And rolls…”
I barely caught the tail end of her sentence, slamming the screen door behind me.
Chapter 3
VD
I glanced up just in time to watch her cute little ass disappear inside the house. Was she running because of me? I’d known that I was way out of line with that kiss back at the airport, but fuck, it was the best thing I’d done since getting released from prison. The next best thing? Well, that was gonna involve us being naked and her underneath me. On second thought, fuck that, I wanted to pound her from behind, if the lady was willing. I bet she was gonna make me work for it, too, but hell, she was worth it.
It had been a damned long time since a woman like her had caught my attention for anything more than five seconds. Once we’d made eye contact on the plane I’d felt sucker punched. Her subtle scent had drifted up to me, something sweet but also wicked, turning me hard faster than a stripper grinding her pussy on a stripper pole. Of course, I hadn’t been around any strippers lately, and the only action my dick had been getting was by my own hand.
That was about to change, and soon.
But not today. Today was about re-connecting with my brothers, and taking the reins as Mad Dogs’ President. I hadn’t expected the title, even though I’d been the club VP long before going to jail. Finding out that Dickie was
terminal had gutted me. We were brothers, closer than brothers. I was closer to him than Marvin that was for sure. Hell, I’d just done eighteen months for him, and I’d do it all over again if the club asked me to.
Seeing the rush of club members making their way toward me, I braced myself for the welcome home. I looked around, noticing that the whole club seemed to be there, minus a few of the women. I was glad Trish wasn’t there. I’d heard she’d moved on after our divorce, and I intended to do the same thing. Our relationship had never been about love anyway, but when a woman that you’re with gets knocked up and says it’s yours, you step up and do what’s right. A paternity test had sealed the deal.
Fuck, it felt good being free again. Free to do what I wanted, when I wanted. The first few brothers to reach me--Becker, Whip, Demon, and Roland—nearly bowed me over with their bear hugs. Others followed directly behind them, and after a while I lost count of how many brothers greeted me with a welcome home and congratulations on my new title. It was bittersweet, and when things had died down I made my way over to Dickie.
“Hey, brother, welcome back,” he said, offering me his hand. I stooped low enough so that we could do a man hug. “You look too good for a man just getting out of prison.” He grinned.
I wished I could say the same about him, but cancer had taken a huge toll on his once large frame. “Good to be back, brother.” I made eye contact with Penny and gave her a wink. “How you doing, sweetheart?”
“Good, Vince. We’re hanging in there.”
I nodded. “Anything I can do for you, brother?”
“You’re doing it by taking over the reins,” Dickie said. “Whip can fill you in on all the changes that have happened since you’ve been gone.”
I knew he’d be pissed if I told him that I already knew about the changes, so I kept it to myself. I kept checking the door, waiting impatiently for Penny’s pretty sister to make an appearance again.
Carnal Hunger Page 2
