by Nina Levine
She’s found some of her pieces.
I moved off the chair, slid my arm around her waist and pulled her close, pressing her body to mine. “You want me to keep you updated, I’m gonna need something from you, too,” I growled.
Her breathing picked up and she stared up at me through heated eyes. This was the Harlow I needed – the woman who could go from annoyed, to passionate, to turned on in one conversation. “What?” she demanded.
My eyes searched hers for a moment, appreciating the emotion radiating from them. Savouring everything I saw because it had been too long since I’d had it from her, and hoping like fuck to see it every day from here on out. “I’m gonna need you to keep talking to me about where you’re at.” I held her tight while I waited for her response.
She nodded. “I will.” Her promise fell easily from her lips and all I could do was hope she kept it, because this woman standing in front of me was the woman I’d decided to spend the rest of my life with, and I needed her whole again.
I was done marking time and waiting for her to come back to me.
I was done with a lot of things in my life.
It was time to take command and make shit happen.
* * *
The next morning, I sat at the head of the table at Church and surveyed the room. My brothers watched me through eyes that betrayed their true feelings. They knew as well as I did that seven men down meant shit could happen that we might not be able to deal with. The thing about Storm, though, was that we would fight till our dying breath to protect what was ours.
“I’ve called Rogue and Colt home, and we’re patching Gunnar in,” I announced. Rogue and Colt were nomads, and had both assured me last night they’d be here within two days, if not sooner. If we needed him, I’d also call Havoc but I knew King had work for him in Sydney at the moment.
Everyone agreed, and then Griff spoke. “I’ve got Nash and J keeping track of every move Julio makes while I investigate him. I can tell you he’s from Adelaide and has a sister there. Apart from her, I can’t find any other family members. He has a network in South Australia and from what I can work out, he controls the drugs in most of that state.”
“So he’s probably tied up with Bourne,” I mused. The President of the Adelaide Storm chapter. The asshole I’d hoped to avoid as much as possible.
“Fuck,” J muttered, looking as frustrated as I felt. “I’d hoped we were done with that prick.”
I eyed him. “You’ve got two contacts down there, right?”
“Yeah. You want me to find out what they know?”
Nodding, I said, “See what they know and let’s hope like fuck we can get what we need out of them. I want as little to do with Bourne as possible.”
“Will do,” he agreed.
Turning to Wilder, I asked, “Where are we at with Trilogy?” He was recovering from being shot so I was keeping him on light duties at the moment. Managing the reopening of the restaurant fit this bill.
“It’s on track to reopen next week. The staff are pretty much all lined up and ready to go, but we may need to borrow some from the other restaurants until we hire a few more waitresses.” The thing I appreciated about Wilder was how he moved on from shit once it was dealt with. After he’d brought the new information on Julio to the table yesterday and I’d had words with him afterwards, it was done as far as he was concerned. It was the way I preferred to operate as well.
“Good work, brother. I want you to take on the job of overseeing the restaurants and Indigo for now. You good with that?”
He gave me a nod. “Consider it done.” I had no doubt in his ability; he’d proven himself with getting Trilogy up and running again.
I turned my attention back to the table. “We’re done here for today. You’ve all got your jobs and I want to be kept updated with anything you find out, no matter how insignificant you might think it is. Understood?”
They all agreed and left to get started.
Griff held back and when we were alone, he said, “I’m gonna do some digging on Bourne. I don’t think it’s a coincidence Julio and he came up in the same conversation today. Marcus was tight with Bourne and they had plans for Brisbane, so it makes me question whether there’s any connection.”
I rubbed the back of my neck; this had unsettled me, too. “That thought had also crossed my mind.”
“I’ll let you know what I find out.”
He’d walked the few steps to the door when I asked, “You free this weekend? I need some help fixing a fence.”
“Yours?”
“The fence on Michelle’s house.” It was the house next door to mine; the house I owned and rented out to Michelle.
“How’s she going these days? Still clean?”
“As far as I know she is. I haven’t seen any signs to say otherwise and Harlow keeps an eye out, too. Fuck knows, Michelle needs it – she has no family to look out for her, and her friends are mostly junkies that she’s tried to distance herself from. I’ll give her credit – she has made a huge effort to clean herself up.”
“Good to hear. I might not be in town this weekend. I’ll have to let you know on Friday whether I can help.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Where are you going?” Griff didn’t leave town often, if ever.
“Could be heading down to Byron for the weekend.”
I frowned. “When the fuck do you go to Byron?”
A scowl flitted across his face. “This weekend; that’s when the fuck,” he snapped, and I knew from his tone and the hard set of his shoulders that this conversation was over.
A moment later he exited the room and I wondered what the hell was going on with him. However, all thoughts of that left my mind when I entered the bar a couple of minutes later to find J and Wilder watching the surveillance from the camera we had on the outside of the building.
J eyed me with a grin. “Get a look at this, brother.”
I stepped closer to the screen to see what they were watching. A dark haired woman stood in the car park and looked to be arguing with Nash over something. And she looked to be winning that argument.
“Looks like she’s giving Nash a piece of her mind,” J said with a snicker.
We watched them for another couple of minutes until I realised how agitated Nash was getting. When he took a step away from her and she followed, I knew the time had come to get involved.
J came with me, and when we reached them, Nash was saying – “Babe, we had nothing to do with the drugs your brother bought, so for fuck’s sake take your argument to whoever did.”
Now that I was able to get a good look at the woman, I saw she was only young – early twenties at the most. She wore shorts and a t-shirt, and tattoos covered her thighs and arms. Her long dark hair hung like wild chaos around her in a similar fashion to the anger she’d brought with her.
Her brows rose behind the dark glasses covering her eyes. “He told me he bought them from Storm and that he owed you money. I’ve come here today to pay you the goddamn money and to ask you…no, to fucking beg you, to stop selling him the drugs so he can try to get clean again.” While anger clothed her, desperation blazed between her words – her anxiety to clear the debt rang out loud and clear.
Nash opened his mouth to reply, but I spoke before he could. “Consider whatever debt he thought he had, cleared.”
Her mouth fell open for a moment before she snapped it closed and ripped her sunglasses from her face. Untrusting brown eyes glared back at me. “Bullshit. Bikers don’t just clear debts.”
“This one does.” Figuring she was far from the kind of woman to back down easily, I waited for her to continue the argument.
Shaking her head at me, she ran her fingers through her wavy hair. “Fuck,” she muttered. “Look, I’ve got shit to do so, for the love of God, will you just let me pay you?” Narrowing her eyes at me, she added, “Honestly, what kind of drug dealer turns money down?”
She was beginning to piss me off. I moved closer to her so I
was in her space. Bending my face closer to hers, I said, “I’m - ”
Before I could get my words out, she kneed me in the balls and after placing her hands against my chest, shoved me hard so I stumbled backwards.
Fuck.
I hadn’t seen that coming and fuck if I’d let it go without giving her a piece of my mind.
Wild eyes stared at me, and her chest rose and fell hard and fast as she spat out, “Don’t fucking come that close to me again.”
Heat flushed through me as my body tensed with anger and pain. “You need to get the fuck off my property now and never come back. We don’t sell drugs here. Get your facts right before you come around accusing people of shit they didn’t do and if you ever fuckin’ touch my balls again, be prepared for the repercussions.” I fumed as I glared at her, waiting for her to leave.
She met my glare and didn’t let go. Instead of doing what I’d said, she grabbed an envelope out of her bag and slapped it into my hand. “I’m not accusing you of anything; I couldn’t give a shit what people do to make a living. All I want is the debt cleared and my brother left alone. You think you can manage that?”
J whistled. “Fuck, the girl’s got balls.”
I didn’t take my eyes off her. Either J was right or she was dumb as fuck; I was tending towards J being right. As we watched each other, a car pulled into the car park, pulling my attention away for a second.
Harlow.
She parked her car and made her way to where the four of us stood. Frowning, she asked, “What’s going on?”
“I was just leaving,” the girl muttered, taking a step back as she watched Harlow with the same level of distrust she’d looked at us with.
“You don’t need to leave on my account,” Harlow said. “I just dropped in for a quick hello; nothing important, so I can wait inside for you to be done.”
As she made a move to leave us, I snagged her around the waist and pulled her to me. “I won’t be long, sweetheart,” I said, my eyes holding hers. Fuck, whatever perfume she had on today smelt amazing.
A lazy smile spread across her face. Standing on her toes, she brushed a quick kiss across my lips. “See you soon,” she murmured before pulling out of my hold and walking inside.
My gaze followed her until I could no longer see her. Turning back to the girl, I snapped, “You should go.”
Her eyes glinted with displeasure. “My thoughts exactly,” she muttered before sweeping one last glare over all of us and turning to walk towards her car parked on the road.
The three of us watched her go before Nash looked at me and said, “Jesus fucking Christ, I hope to God we never see her again.”
“Yeah, you and Scott’s balls hope to never see her again,” J chipped in as he smirked.
I raked my fingers through my hair as the tension punched through my body. I’d been on edge when she arrived and she’d only amplified that. Holding up the envelope she’d given me, I said, “What’s the bet it was Keg who sold to her brother?”
“I figured that, too,” J said.
“I’ll hold onto this in case she comes back looking for it.” Although I figured it had been Keg who sold the drugs, if someone else did, they’d go looking for this cash and she’d need it then.
We headed back inside and I found Harlow waiting for me at the bar. She held Wilder’s and Griff’s attention, and I took a moment to appreciate the ease with which she got on with club members. She’d kept away from the clubhouse over the past few months, choosing to lock herself away at home or at the café. Seeing her here today, laughing like she was, made me happy.
She smiled at me as I approached, and turned her body to mine when I stood in front of her. “I missed you this morning.” Her voice was soft; all breathy like she’d been thinking of fucking me.
I bent my head so my mouth was near her ear. “Damn, woman, you know that sexy voice of yours gets me hard.” I spoke so that only she could hear, but I didn’t give a fuck if anyone else heard it. My feelings for Harlow weren’t something I ever tried to hide.
Her body swayed and her back arched as the front of her brushed up against me. “I could take care of that right now.” Her eyes flirted with mine and her promise sizzled in the air between us.
Fuck.
Yes.
I grabbed hold of her hand and without another glance at anyone in the room, I stalked towards the office, pulling her with me. No fucking way could a man pass up that offer.
When we arrived at the office, I ushered her inside and kicked the door closed behind us. Then I pushed her against the desk and reached for the button on her jeans. “Fuck, sweetheart, why’d you wear jeans? A skirt would be better for this kind of thing.” I moved as fast as I could to undo her jeans because, hell, my dick had hardened to the point where a man could go crazy if he didn’t get any relief.
She raised her brows. “Really? You’re gonna complain about shit when I’m standing in front of you offering you this?” As she said the word ‘this’, she guided my hand to her pussy.
Her wet, dripping pussy.
Fuck.
I ran my finger through her lips and groaned. “Not complaining, Harlow, just stating the fuckin’ truth.” I yanked her jeans down and then her panties. “Did you wake up wet for me, baby?”
She’d undone my jeans and pulled my cock out. Wrapping her hand around it, she began stroking me. “Yes, and you were gone so I took care of myself with BOB, but he’s never enough. Especially not when I make myself come thinking about you; it just makes me need you more.”
I groaned again; the thought of her using a vibrator turned me on, but her dirty talking took me to a whole new level of turned on. Grinding myself against her, I growled, “From now on, I’ll wake you up and fuck you before I leave for work.” As the words left my mouth, I lifted her so she sat on the desk, thrust my cock inside her and squeezed my eyes shut as her pussy welcomed me in.
God damn, my woman felt good.
She moaned and dug her fingers into my back. “Fuck me hard, Scott. Fast and hard,” she pleaded. Desire laced her words and caused me to move with clear intention. If Harlow wanted fast and hard, who the fuck was I to argue?
Her legs wrapped around me and we lost ourselves while we gave our bodies over to the pleasure we craved. There was no kissing and no gentleness to this sex; it was raw need, pure and simple.
Cock and pussy and cum.
A quick fuck that would get us through the day until I could fuck her until she passed out tonight.
As her orgasm shattered through her, she clung to me tighter, digging her fingers into my skin even harder. No words escaped her mouth, but her breathing had quickened and I watched as her eyes closed and she bit her bottom lip. And then my orgasm moved through my body, and I thrust one last time before coming.
Fuck.
I tightened my hold on her and dropped my head against her shoulder. We didn’t move for a few minutes, but eventually I pulled out and let her go. I pulled my jeans up and loved the fuck out of it when her hands took over and did them up. Her eyes didn’t leave mine, and hell if they didn’t promise me all sorts of sexy shit.
“Christ, it’s like you’re making up for lost time,” I said as she pulled her panties and jeans up.
“Are you complaining?” The playfulness in her tone told me she loved this conversation.
I dropped my lips to hers and kissed her. It was a long, deep kiss and when we finally surfaced for air, I said, “Fuck, no. Anytime you want to make up for lost time, just call me, and I’m there.”
She grinned and reached for her bag that she’d dumped on my desk. Pulling something out that was wrapped in tin foil, she placed it in my hands. “You need to eat this because I’m going to bake your other favourite tonight.”
I frowned. “What’s my other favourite?”
Shaking her head, she refused to tell me. “You’ll have to wait until tonight if you don’t know what it is. It’ll be a surprise that I guarantee you’ll love.” She pressed
another kiss to my lips before slinging her bag over her shoulder and taking a step away from me.
I placed the cake on the desk and folded my arms across my chest. Watching as she took the few steps to the door, I said, “A head’s up, sweetheart – my dick is already hard for you again. That sweet pussy of yours is mine tonight and I plan on fucking you all night long, so take it easy today.”
Her steps faltered and when she turned to me, I could clearly see how much my words had affected her.
Almost as much as just thinking about her affected me.
“I love your filthy mouth, Scott Cole,” she said, and with that she left.
I pushed off the desk and looked out the window, watching as she left the clubhouse a few minutes later. So many thoughts filled my mind, but as they came and went, one thought remained. It’s good to have my woman back.
2
Harlow
Today is going to be a good day.
I repeated this over and over in my mind as I drove away from the clubhouse. Yesterday I’d felt like I could conquer the world, but today I felt like the world could conquer me. It made no sense to me because after a great day yesterday and an amazing night with Scott, I’d thought for sure I would wake up today and tackle everything head on. But then again, the thing I’d learnt over the past few months was that not much in my head made sense to me.
I’d woken up with that empty feeling in the pit of my stomach that I’d become used to. Empty and me were old friends. The difference now, though, was that it was a friendship I had become determined to end. So I’d plastered a smile on my face and gone to see my man because the other thing I’d learnt over the past few months was that Scott was there for me in any way I needed. I’d never known a man to be that loyal, but he’d shown me I could have full faith in him. He’d also made it clear he wanted me to lean on him and be open with him. I’d fully intended to do that this morning – to tell him my high from yesterday had disappeared – but when he’d been turned on just from being near me, it had made me feel so good that I went along with it and shoved the rest from my mind.
