by Addison Jane
Meyah urgently tapped my stomach, and I instantly began shifting down gears until I was going slow enough to pull to the side of the road. When I finally made it to a stop, I looked over my shoulder to check that she was okay and found her smiling back at me, her eyes bright and sparkling.
“Can you go back to the bridge back there,” she called over the low rumble of the motor.
There was no fucking way I was going to say no to that face, responding with a sharp nod and checking the road before pulling a U-turn and heading back a couple of hundred feet to where there was a small bridge over a slow running river. Pulling my ride into a small gravel area just off to the side, I kicked the stand down and switched off the motor.
Meyah eagerly placed her hand on my shoulder and hefted herself off the back like she’d been doing it for fucking years. I guess she’d been around the club enough to see the old ladies climb on and off the back of their men’s bikes, that she’d studied the technique down to a tee.
I lifted my sunglass onto the top of my head and tugged my bandana down around my neck to free my mouth. I only ever carried one helmet with me—something that I might reconsider very soon—so I’d given it to Meyah and chosen to protect her first.
She placed the helmet on the back of my bike before rushing over to the edge of the gravel and looking over the edge which was covered in trees and brush down to the stream below. Climbing off my ride, not wanting to miss the excitement that was bubbling all around her, I followed behind her.
“When I was younger, I used to ride horses here,” she explained as her eyes roamed the obvious horse trail that ran alongside the river. “Sulphur Creek trails were like my favorite place to be. I had a heap of friends who I would come out here with every other weekend. Sometimes we’d even camp up at the trail entrance so we could get up early and ride all day.”
The excitement and buzz she’d initially felt were transforming into a feeling of nostalgia, and when the sparkle in her eyes started to disappear, I could see the moment she remembered why this was only a memory and not something that she continued to do.
“I didn’t know you rode horses,” I responded, moving in closer to her, my chest pressed softly against her back in a show of support. I didn’t want to push her to talk about something that obviously wasn’t an entirely pleasant memory, but I wanted her to know I was right here for her if she needed me.
“My horse, Delilah, she got spooked one day when we came across someone walking their dogs on the trail,” she recalled quietly. Her hand reached back, her fingers unconsciously brushing across my jeans in circles while she continued to stare down at the river trail below us. “She threw me off, and I hit my head on a rock. There was blood, and an air ambulance, and I stayed in the hospital for a few days.”
I felt the muscles in my body tighten at the thought of Meyah getting hurt, even if she was just a little girl at the time. “It’s understandable that you wouldn’t have wanted to get back on a horse after that,” I reassured her, but she shook her head.
“No. I was ready to go riding again the week after,” she argued. “I missed my friends, and I missed Delilah. I’d seen people thrown off their horses before. Sometimes you get hurt, other times you just laugh it off and get back on. I didn’t want to lose something I loved so much, so I was ready just to suck it up and get back on.”
She turned to face me, her body slumped and defeated.
“Okay… I’m confused then. Why don’t you ride anymore?”
“My mom,” she growled, her brow tightening into a scowl. “She wouldn’t let me ride anymore. She said it was too dangerous. That I could get really hurt.” Suddenly she pulled away from me kicking at the gravel with her feet and sending it flying.
“Hey, hey!” I called, chasing after her and grabbing hold of her arm. “I’m not exactly looking at having my bike repainted because someone kicked a bunch of little stones at it. So if we could keep the flying rocks to a minimum,” I tried to joke, but I could see the sadness and agitation on her face.
“Sorry,” she murmured. “It’s just annoying, you know… I can’t do anything without my mom trying to pad me with cotton wool. I lost a lot of friends when I stopped riding. Until recently, I wasn’t allowed to hang out with Uncle Leo all that much. And she won’t let me go to any parties… even the ones with parents at them because she’s scared I’m going to become some kind of drug addict. Not that I get invited anymore anyway.”
I couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled up and spilled out my mouth even though I knew she was truly hurt by how things were with the kids at school. At first, she looked horrified I found this so amusing, but the shocked look on her face soon transformed into a smile, and then the giggles started.
“I love how your mom will let you hang out at a biker clubhouse but thinks that it’s going to be some high school party that’s going to convert you to drugs,” I snorted in amusement.
She ran her fingers through her hair tossing it back away from her face before looking up at me with a wide grin. “Wow! I have some problems, right?” she confessed, shaking her head like she couldn’t believe this was happening right now.
“Trust me, you aren’t the only one,” I offered.
She threw her arms out wide and spun around, her thick, dark chocolate hair flying around her. “Maybe I should have made a list… things to do today that I know will piss off my mother. Any ideas?”
I smirked taking two large steps forward and sweeping her up into my arms mid-twirl. She screamed in a mixture of surprise and delight wrapping her legs around my waist and almost choking me as she clung tightly to my neck. I carried her back to my bike, one arm around her waist, the other holding up her perfectly round ass which I couldn’t help but squeeze while it was placed so perfectly.
She screamed again and swatted at my back with her hand. “Cut it out, you fiend!” She laughed.
The mixture of our laughter echoed like music through the dense forest around us. It was like the perfect symphony—my deep tone, her light tinkle swirling together with the rush of water and rustling of the leaves. It was just us alone, laughing, sharing stories about our past. Well, she was at least. I still wasn’t sure if I was ready to share one of my own.
I’d spent so long staying away from Meyah keeping her at arm's length and watching her from afar, I just wasn’t ready to let my failures taint this time I finally had with her.
Lifting her body higher, I threw my leg over my bike and sat down with Meyah facing me, her back to the handlebars and her legs hooked over mine. With her ass firmly on the seat, she finally loosened her death grip on me sitting back just slightly but keeping her fingers intertwined at the back of my neck.
“I’m pretty sure we can’t ride like this,” she whispered with a soft smile.
I raised my eyebrows. “I’m willing to give it a go if you are,” I teased with a smirk.
“Turn the key then,” she dared, evidently not realizing who she was dealing with. I reached behind her for the keys and started the motor. It rumbled to life beneath us, and I smirked as her eyes lit up in surprise.
Leaning forward, my lips brushed across her ear as I reached up and unhooked her hands from behind my neck. “I’m pretty sure we can add this to your list,” I suggested loud enough for her to hear over the bassy idle. Grabbing her thighs, I pulled her ass right up against my crotch before placing my hand on her stomach and sliding it up the center of her body, slowly forcing her to lay back until her head was lying between the handlebars.
I licked my lips as I stared down at her unable to keep my hands from tracing the waistband of her jeans and the way they rested low on her hips. With her body stretched out across my bike, her T-shirt was lifted, exposing a sliver of creamy, soft skin that was so perfect and damn untainted. “I think I’ve fucking died,” I muttered to myself, knowing she couldn’t hear me, but the way her stomach started moving with laughter told me she’d probably figured it out from the movement of my lips.
; Placing my hands on her hips, I used my thumbs to draw gentle circles on her skin right on her hip bones and looked up, finding her watching me carefully with a warm smile. Her eyes brightened, and her smile grew wider when she pressed her hips down against me and gave them a little wiggle.
My cock twitched seeing the playful nature that was inside her. It was new to me to see her so beautifully free and not hiding herself. Meyah had always been somewhat of an addiction to me, the innocence and need to protect her was what drew me in. That damsel in distress bullshit had me obsessed with watching her like a fucking stalker, but it was all the little things I learned about her that kept me fascinated and made me want her more and more.
Like the way she chewed on the end of her pen while she was studying, or how she often hid her smile with her hand when she was sitting with a large group of people. The way she always put others first. The way she would blush when I walked into a room, and how no matter how hurt she was or the bullshit she went through at school, she always led with her heart on her sleeve.
Oh, and the way she handled a gun?
Jesus fucking Christ, that was sexy.
Meyah was stronger than even she knew. But I was starting to understand why she was the way she was, and why it had taken her this long to stand up and say fuck you to the people who’d done her wrong. She had a mother who refused to let her learn from her mistakes or even fucking make them.
“Ham…” Meyah called over the engine, drawing me from the trance I seemed to have fallen into, “… my phone.”
I quickly pulled her up to a sitting position and helped her climb off the bike as she fought to get her cell phone out of her back pocket. She jogged away from the bike, answering, as I switched my bike off.
“Hey, Mom,” she said hurriedly before pulling her bottom lip in between her teeth, obviously nervous. “What? No…” Her nose crinkled, and her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, okay. I’ll meet you there in an hour… okay… bye.”
The sexy, sassy, and confident Meyah was once again stolen away, and her shoulders slumped as she walked back toward me.
“Mom not happy about something?” I asked.
She huffed out a humorless laugh. “So I guess one of her workers recognized me on the back of your bike as we were leaving town,” she explained, as she shoved her cell roughly back into her pocket and reached for the helmet behind me. “She wants to pick me up at the clubhouse in an hour when she finishes work.”
I was disappointed, but I could tell that even though Meyah had issues with her mom, that she loved and respected her a lot. That and the fact she was my brother’s sister-in-law meant I needed to keep my mouth shut for now, and just let her know that I was there for her if she needed me.
I held out my hand, and she placed her hand in mine. I gave it a gentle squeeze, and she forced a smile before setting her foot on the peg and throwing her leg over behind me. “Guess we better go and warn Leo that there’s probably a lecture coming.”
She groaned. “Do you think we could just turn around and ride in the other direction until we get to Canada or something?”
I laughed and patted her thigh with my hand. “Gotta face the music.”
“This song sucks.”
We pulled into a reasonably quiet clubhouse—thank fucking God.
Ham said that most of the guys were out finishing up a security job in Huntsville, but that they should be back soon. I was pretty happy we wouldn’t have twenty pairs of eyes watching me ride in on the back of his bike, but it didn’t stop Levi from raising an eyebrow at us as we passed through the gates. We hurried inside the clubhouse grabbing a couple of bottles of water from behind the bar before heading out to the patio.
“How’s the hand feeling?” Ham asked, reaching for it and gently pulling it up to his face for inspection.
“It’s not so bad. The swelling’s almost completely gone,” I explained as I opened and shut my fist with very little pain.
His thumb brushed across the back of my knuckles, rubbing gently, soothingly. It was something I’d found him do more than once in the time we’d been together this afternoon. Perhaps it was a habit, something he did which maybe was more for him than it was for me. Either way, though, I liked it.
The roar of motorcycles filled the air around us as the club came flying down the street like usual and into the compound.
“Gotta admit…” Ham started, taking a step back and letting my hand fall between us, “… I’m impressed. And I meant it when I said I was real proud of you.”
“Yeah, I went from that quiet tormented girl to the crazy bitch who punches people in the face.” His laughter surprised me. I was still getting used to seeing this other side of him, the side that let loose and joked with me. The Hamlet I usually saw was dark and broody, always on some kind of mission, his mind focused on something else.
“Do you really care what any of them think?” Ham asked as he unscrewed the lid of his water.
I shrugged.
Did I really care what they thought?
“I guess not,” I admitted. I had a small group of friends at school—extremely small—who stood by me even through all the bullshit that Nick tried to spin. While gossip was often floating around about me, it was really only Nick and his friends that went out of their way to be douche bags and torment me in the hallways. The rest of the student body was guilty by silence. No one ever bothering to step in to say, ‘Hey, she doesn’t deserve that.’
“You know, sometimes we have to do things we aren’t entirely proud of to keep our sanity intact. You stood up for yourself. Who gives a shit if people start calling you Meyah the destroyer.”
My eyes shot up in horror only to find him with a smug grin on his face. “That’s not even funny, Hamlet,” I snorted, pursing my lips.
“Okay, okay.” He chuckled, holding his hands up in a defensive position. The way his eyes were lit up playfully sent a jolt of excitement tingling through me, and I tried to hide my face as I felt the electric current light my cheeks on fire. “What about the nose crusher? Fury Fists?” This time, he raised his hands in a fighting stance protecting his face with one and playfully jabbing at me with the other.
I tried to mirror him and hold my hands in the same position. He instantly stopped and placed both hands on his hips, narrowing his eyes on my fists and the way my body was placed. “Wow, we need to teach you how to throw a punch,” Ham noted as he scrutinized me closely.
“You punch one kid in the face, and suddenly everyone is a damn critic,” I groaned.
A deep familiar chuckle came from behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to find Uncle Leo shaking his head in amusement. “He’s right, girl. That’s fucking awful.”
I threw my hands up in the air and rolled my eyes. “Seriously, one punch and you guys are trying to prepare me for an MMA fight. Trust me, I don’t plan on punching any more kids in the face.”
“That’s disappointing,” Emma interjected as she slipped past Leo with a satisfied smile on her face.
Eagle followed after her with an amused smirk. “A coupla months at a real school, and she’s already turned into some bloodthirsty teenager.”
Emma had become one of my best friends over the past few months since her sister, Skylar, and Eagle took her in after she escaped this crazy cult. It was nice to have someone around the club to hang out with given there weren’t many club kids our age.
Emma rolled her eyes dramatically at Eagle’s smart remark before turning back to me. “You’re basically a hero at school. At least half the football team want your number. Apparently, they’ve all been wanting to knock our friend, Nick, out for a while, but the coach threatened to suspend them if they touched him.”
“Why?” Ham asked before I could get the question out myself. “The kid sucks at fucking football. I don’t know why the coach keeps putting him on the damn field.”
The club often did the security for the varsity football games. Our team did reasonably well, and things could get a little cra
zy at times between opposing supporters when we had home games. So while they were mostly there to keep things calm, most of the boys at the club had become quite invested in the team.
“He keeps getting put in because Nick’s mommy and daddy have the coach under their rich little thumbs,” Eagle explained, dropping his huge frame into one of the patio chairs and popping the cap on the beer in his hand. “Money speaks. I think we’ve all learned that by now.”
“Hey, Shake,” Wrench called as he stepped outside. He had a deep frown on his face which I noticed had Ham’s body instantly standing a little taller. “Can I speak to you for a minute?”
I looked up at Ham, and he offered me a smile. “Sorry, sounds important.”
“It’s okay. I’m kind of glad my mom won’t have a chance to lay into you,” I told him honestly, and he gently squeezed my hand in a show of support.
“Keep out of trouble, Fury Fists,” he murmured so no one else could hear before jogging back inside the clubhouse.
There was a flutter of something in my chest as I watched him leave. His broad shoulders, the bristles on his face, and the way he held himself were all things that had changed over the past year.
Ham wasn’t a boy anymore.
Nope.
All man.
More of the brothers began to file outside and onto the patio where there was a gentle breeze and a warm sun, each of them with a drink in their hands. Obviously, they were done for the day and ready to relax.
With Ham gone and my mom on her way ready to start something, I decided it was a good time to make a quick escape. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to walk toward my uncle who was now talking with Optimus. They both turned as I stopped sharply beside them.
“Mom’s coming to pick me up. Someone saw me on the back of Ham’s bike, and she’s pissed. I’ll go wait for her out the front, k?” I rattled off quickly before making a quick exit. Well, what I thought would be a quick exit. I should have known better by now.
