Deep green eyes, dark hair which is yet to be overtaken by gray, and covered in tattoos, Reaper fills out a pair of jeans like a boss. Honestly, if I had a guy who looks like him, I’d never let him out of the house, let alone the bedroom. That man is seriously fine eye candy, age be damned.
“Sure,” I shrug, happy to be given a reprieve from the crazy lady with a cleaver. I don’t really think she’d use it on anyone, but Emily’s a tad unpredictable at the moment, so I don’t want to chance it.
Grabbing my hand, Adelyn pulls me toward the huge pantry.
“Okay, lighter fluid is on the bottom shelf at the back. You get that while I try to find where Boss hid the matches.”
“I don’t think so, baby,” a deep voice rasps just as Adelyn’s yanked back into the sexy, ripped chest of her husband.
Letting out an adorable shriek, Adelyn turns around slapping the big man’s ass.
“You shit. You scared the crap out of me.”
“Good,” he grunts, picking her up effortless and throwing her over his shoulder fireman style. “How many fucking times do I have to tell you, no fire before you’ll listen to me?”
“Um, more than you have,” she hedges, hanging upside down, looking put out.
Chuckling at her, Reaper caresses his wife’s backside, patting it firmly as he strides in the direction of the dorms.
“I’ve got something hot for you to play with, baby. It’s safer too.”
“Like hell it is,” she mutters. “There is nothing safe about what you’re packing down there, Max, and you know it. Stop lying in front of our new friend, it’s rude.”
Waving my hand, I stutter out between giggles,
“No, no, please carry on. This is the most entertainment I’ve had in days.”
Adelyn narrows her eyes at me, snapping,
“You’re not helping, so shut it.” Slapping her husband's ass again, she groans, “If I promise not to play with fire will you let me down?”
“Fuck no. You’ve made me fucking hard with all that slapping, and now you’re gonna take care of the problem you created,” he retorts, backing his statement up by adjusting the ginormous bulge in the front of his jeans.
“But I’ve got things to do,” Adelyn whines unsuccessfully, seeing as he has no intention of putting her down.
“Yeah, me, and after that you can get back to whatever the hell it is you think you need to be doing as long as it’s not playing with those pits,” he supplies helpfully.
Pinching the skin covering his ribs instead, Adelyn asks hopefully,
“Quickie?”
Reaper grins widely at everyone in the room, ignoring the further pleas of his wife to put her down as he says,
“That’s just not gonna work for me, baby.”
“I’ll give you half an hour. No more, no less.” I’ve never heard two people negotiate their sex life so freely before, but it’s amusing, to say the least. As are Adelyn’s pitiful attempts at bargaining with Reaper.
“You’re not in any position to negotiate terms, Angel.” Getting her attention, he tells Emily, “I’ll bring her back in a couple of hours. You good without her for that long?”
“Of course, sweetheart,” Emily smiles, earning a scowl from Adelyn.
Resigned to the knowledge there is no escape in the imminent future, Adelyn sighs.
“Save me a hot dog, please mom.”
*****
Four hours, copious beers, and a plate or two of food later, Adelyn groans loudly in the chair beside me.
“I am not looking forward to the hangover I’m most assuredly going to have tomorrow. Why did you bitches let me drink so much?”
As always, Meg is the first to reply.
“This is all on you, sister. You stomped out here acting pissed off at the world, pretending you hadn’t just been thoroughly ravished by a delicious biker and then proceeded to drink your weight in beer. How pray tell is this our fault?”
“Because you didn’t stop me,” Adelyn snorts.
Avery is the next to speak up, amusement evident in her tone when she says,
“What did you want me to do? My days wrestling alcohol away from crazy women are long gone, Ade. Pregnancy belly plus floor equals there I’ll stay, so you’re on your own with this one. Anyway, what did Uncle Reaper do? From what I heard when I needed to use the bathroom, Meg’s right. You were thoroughly enjoying yourself,” she ends on a snicker.
“Okay, enough now children,” Blaine orders, breaking into their banter. Pointing at Avery, she reminds her, “I’m not sure if it’s your pregnancy brain that’s making you forgetful, but Ade’s practically our Aunt and Reaper is most definitely our Uncle. That makes it not only disgusting that you’re discussing their sex life, but I’m relatively sure it’s incestuous too. And you,” Blaine says, addressing Adelyn. “As generous as sharing the details of your love life is, for the sake of my sanity and because I intend to sleep with my man sometime in the next decade, keep them to yourself. We’re all well aware you’re a nympho, so give it a rest already.”
“Amen,” I chime in, obviously more tipsy than I thought. “Not that I don’t like hearing about how well your husband services you, he’s fucking hot after all, but seeing as I’m going through a wee bit of a drought,” I tell them, holding my thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “I’d prefer not to have images of a friends’ man running through my head when I’m getting myself off.”
“Oh, Jesus H Christ,” Meg groans.
Whoops. I may have forgotten to mention, my inhibitions take an extended vacation when I consume what my body determines is too much alcohol. And clearly I reached that limit, having had seven beers in four hours.
“Shut it, Chatty Cathy. Sorry, ladies. My bestie here gets a little too honest for her own good when she drinks,” Meg apologizes for me.
“You know, if I didn’t love you so much, I’d smother you in your sleep with your own pillow,” I share.
“Yeah? Well, if I didn’t adore you, I’d have drowned you in the inch of water at the bottom of the shower by now, so I guess we’re even then,” Meg returns, grinning at me.
Pretending to consider it, I nod once.
“It seems we are. Well played, sir. Well played.”
Dex steps in between mine and Meg’s chairs, saying hello to everyone before taking my hand in his.
“I’m gonna borrow her for a bit.”
My alcohol addled brain’s filter has also gone on hiatus, packing up and leaving with my inhibitions, causing me to speak first and probably not remember later.
“But what if I don’t want to be borrowed?” Looking to Meg, I inquire, “Why does every man I meet test drive the goods and then decided to ask for a refund? I mean, seriously! This shit is giving me a major complex.”
Meg shakes her head derisively, rolling her eyes to the sky, muttering more to herself than the group.
“Dear God, why me?” Then in a turn of events I never thought I’d live to see, she speaks directly to Dex without her usual venom. “If you borrow her, can you promise not to return her? I’ve spent years watching over her ass when she gets like this, and to be honest, it’s draining.”
Sneering at her, I spit,
“Fuck you very much.”
“Hush, Cathy. The grown ups are talking now,” she shushes. “Just promise that you’ll sober her up before you bring her back.”
Dex looks amused, but I’m sure as hell not.
“I’ll see what I can do, but I wouldn’t mind keeping this one around so you might be waiting a while.” Oh my God! He speaks full sentences. Wonders will never cease.
Dex pulls me up, guiding me through the throngs of people and back inside the clubhouse. Ever since the men returned, we’ve been sitting outside around the fire pits, drinking, eating, and listening to stories about Diesel.
Cami was here and gone almost as quickly. She showed up not long after the men with her brother in tow, which didn’t go over well. Nix didn’t say anything, simply standing
against the far wall of the main room, watching over his sister intently. Everywhere she went, he followed not far behind.
From what I’ve heard, this is unusual, to say the least. Apparently, the siblings don’t get along, but moreover, Cami can’t stand her older brother and has no problem sharing that far and wide.
After spending a few minutes with several of the men closest to Diesel, Cami approached Emily and was grabbed in a crushing embrace before she could even get a word out. That was all it took for the last of Cami’s reserves to break. She cried loud, pained, body-wracking sobs, held tightly by Emily until they died down to quiet whimpers.
Emily signaled for Nix to take her, making him promise to call as soon as they got home so she knew Cami was alright. Nix called half an hour later, telling her Cami was safely tucked into her bed for the night, and that he’d be by to check on his sister sometime the next day.
Cami’s weren’t the only tears shed tonight, though. All of the girls and I shed plenty of our own out of both sadness and laughter. Some of the stories we heard about a young Diesel and the mischief he got up to, were just too funny. I could easily imagine a cute, blonde haired, blue eyed boy innocently beheading the neighbors roses, claiming it wasn’t him while his hands were covered in scratches from the thorns.
Emily didn’t leave until the men hung Diesel’s cut on the wall where it was in good company, joining nine others previously worn by men lost to age, the road, and his fathers.
Sarge escorted Emily out of the clubhouse, telling Boss he was staying with her tonight to make sure she was okay. I have a feeling he’s staying for another reason that has more to do with him being in love with her, but hey, what do I know?
“Not much further, sweetheart,” Dex murmurs as we near the door to his room.
“Can’t we have the conversation you interrupted my binge drinking for in the hall?” I ask ridiculously.
Dex opens his door, ushering me in without bothering to switch on the light until I’m safely seated on the edge of his bed.
“Sorry, no can do. This is between us, and I’d like it to stay that way. My brothers are nosy assholes, so unless you want our business broadcast to everyone within the hour, here will have to do.”
Do I really want anyone else picking over the bones that are Dex and me? Ah, hell no. Flopping back onto his, admittedly, very comfortable mattress, I gesture for him to go on.
“Okey-dokey then. Have at it.”
Chuckling, Dex sits beside me, hauling me up so that I’m upright.
“I’m going to need you conscious for this, Aislinn. As much as I like seeing you splayed out on my bed, your nap time is gonna have to wait. This is important, baby, so you’ve gotta pay attention.”
“Mmhmm, I’m awake,” I mumble sleepily, lying my ass off.
If I thought I was going to be able to put this off, I was wrong. Dex isn’t deterred by my almost vegetative state, and I’m not that way inclined for more than a few minutes before he blows what I thought I knew away.
“I didn’t leave you by choice, Aislinn; I’d never have left if I didn’t have to. My dad fucked up, and my mom was sick, among other things, and there was only one way out of that shit. Your mom,” he admits softly, firmly clamping his arm around my waist, keeping me at his side.
It’s a smart move because right now, all I want to do is run.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
~ Gage ~
“Women on the same cycle as their friends should really be considered gang members. That’s how dangerous they are.”
– Fact of life
When I was thinking about how to tell Aislinn, her mom is a cunt of epic proportions, I decided to go with the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It’ll either be the smartest or stupidest decision I’ll ever make depending on whether I can get Aislinn to see this shit from my perspective or not.
“What does my mother have to do with anything?” Aislinn whispers hoarsely.
During a visit with my mom years ago, she told me Aislinn heard what had been said and quietly snuck out my bedroom window without talking to me first. At the time, I assumed she left because she was hurt, which was enough confirmation my assumptions were right.
What I hadn’t considered was that Aislinn hadn’t heard everything, or for that matter, much if anything at all.
“How much of our conversation did you hear that night, baby?” I prompt, needing to know where in the story to start.
Her brow furrows as she thinks back to the night that changed both of our lives.
“I heard my mother come in and tell you to stay away from me, then you said something about it being a pretty big deal if she was threatening your future in college.”
After a long pause, I frown, asking,
“Is that it?”
Nodding tentatively, the little vixen bites her lower lip, making the semi I’ve been sporting since I first saw her again throb painfully against the zipper of my jeans.
“To be honest, I didn’t want to hide in your room and listen to her lies and bullshit, Dex. I got enough of that at home.”
Jesus fuck! Aislinn didn’t hear the half of it. Which begs the question, why the hell did she take off without confronting me about it.
“You might not have wanted to listen then, but why didn’t you try and talk to me about it afterward? You avoided me for days, Aislinn, until it was too late and I had to leave to go live with my Aunt. If you’d have just fucking talked to me then I would have told you I was coming back for you.”
Pursing her lips, Aislinn narrows her eyes at me.
“Oh, you were going to come back, were you? And do what, Dexter? Rescue the damsel in distress from her horrible monster of a mother? Tell me,” she demands. “Tell me what you were going to do when you eventually came back.”
Loosening my grip on her, I remove my hand from her hip, running it roughly through my hair.
“I was going to take you with me,” I get out before she cuts me off.
“No. No, you weren’t,” Aislinn says, shaking her head dismissively. “If you were going to take me with you, you would have done it then. Not a week later. Not a month later. Not a year later. Then, Dex.”
“You were fifteen, Aislinn. Fif-fucking-teen,” I reply through clenched teeth. “I couldn’t have taken you with me then even though I wanted to. My Aunt’s cool, but she wouldn’t have been okay with harboring a teenage runaway, and I couldn’t look after you the way you deserved back then. I didn’t have a job, money, or a place of my own to live. I had nothing. Besides, your mom would never have let me take you. Fuck knows what she would have done, but I wouldn’t have made it ten miles before she called the cops, saying I’d abducted you.”
With her eyes glaring daggers at me, Aislinn crosses her arms under her tits, pushing them up, making my mouth water with the need to trace the soft, full globes with my tongue.
I really shouldn’t be thinking about sinking balls deep inside her when Aislinn looks like she’d rather rip them off, but I can’t help it. She’s just so fucking sexy when she’s pissed off. Her cheeks redden, the blush creeps down her neck and over her chest, and she gets the most adorable tick right next to her left eye when she’s considering what it would take to get away with murder.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” she asserts. “My mother, who by the way, I haven’t spoken to since the day I turned eighteen, would have been angry she’d lost her cash cow, but she wouldn’t have done a damn thing about it.”
“You don’t understand, baby,” I try to explain. “There’s so much that you don’t know. But if you’ll let me, I’ll tell you everything.”
Scoffing at me, she sneers,
“See, that’s the thing, Dexter; I simply do not give the first fuck. Don’t for one-second think I don’t know about your mom’s cancer, the two rounds of chemo she underwent, the one dose of radiation therapy afterward, or the medication she took that made her so sick I would have to hold her hair back when she threw up all day, every d
ay. Not to mention, it was impossible not to know about your dad’s little gambling problem.”
I allow her to stand and start pacing the floor, but keep a watchful eye that she doesn’t try to make a break for the door as she rants.
“I had been telling your dad for months to come clean, to just tell you and your mom what was going on. Every time he would show up to place a bet with Jimmy, I’d pray that would be the last. I knew what the amount of debt he was racking up would do to your family, and I hated there was nothing I could do about it.”
A burst of anger comes out of nowhere, startling her and me.
“Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” I seethe. “Jesus Christ, Aislinn. If you’d have said something, I could have tried to fix it before it got so bad we almost lost the trailer for fucks sake.”
Aislinn’s shock fades quickly, her own anger taking its place.
“For starters, big guy; don’t yell at me. This isn’t my fault, and I didn’t do shit to you. Next off, your dad begged me not to. If it weren’t for the fact he promised it would all be sorted out by the time you were due to leave for college, I’d have told you in a heartbeat. I was young, Dexter. I believed him when he pleaded with me and said it would break your mom’s heart if she found out. Your mom was so good to me letting me stay over, cooking for me, and offering to drive me to the store to get things I needed so I didn’t have to walk the five miles. I just couldn’t bring myself to hurt her like your dad said it would.”
Vengeance MC Box Set - Volume 2: Gage ~ Cash ~ Knight (Vengeance MC series Book 8) Page 12
