Bruiser's Caress (Warpath MC Book 2)

by Raven Scott

  “It’s ‘cause I’ve got nice muscles, ain’t it?” Smiling against my temple, Bruiser took a deep, calming breath as I hummed in acknowledgment. This warmth, this hot-cocoa warmth, this was what I wanted to feel all the time. The silence was beautiful and soothing, and I wrapped my arms around his neck to finger his short-cropped hair leisurely. “I get why you like this . . . it feels good.”

  “Yeah.” Scratching his scalp with my nails, I smiled when he groaned and arched to sink deep into the sofa. Bruiser stretched his legs beneath me before exhaling into my crown. And it was good. Licking my lips heavily, I hugged his hips with my knees as peaceful darkness crept up on my mind. “It’s really good.”

  “If we lose contact for a bit, don’t panic.” Reaching to stroke my head, Bruiser kissed my cheek as ice lodged in my chest. “I’m not such a pussy that some coked-up asshole can take me out.”

  “Stay the night.” Just as I spoke up, Bruiser’s phone vibrated against my calf, and he cast me a regretful, small smile. His palm left me to fish for his cell, and I felt the loss keenly even as he answered the call. Stormy, blue eyes didn’t leave me as he grunted at whatever was said to him, and he flopped his head back to sigh heavily. “You drove my car here, right? Someone’s here to pick you up?”

  “Yeah. We have a meeting tomorrow to discuss some stuff, and I have to be there. I did consider staying, but you have to work tomorrow.” Surprise caught my breath, and Bruiser’s smile widened a little as he caressed my cheek. “Is it like that, huh?”

  “Um, I mean, s—” A hard knock on my front door cut me off, and I tensed as I glanced over. Climbing off Bruiser, I sucked in a sharp breath and shook my head to clear my mind of the pink clouds that clung to me. Peeping through the hole, a groan of foreboding escaped me before I opened the door. “Hey, Jackie. You couldn’t call first?”

  My sister smiled broadly, holding up a bottle of wine, and my stomach gurgled dangerously. Bruiser and I had eaten some incredibly greasy, cheesy, bacon fries and hotdogs, and the sight of the bottle made me queasy.

  “I thought I’d surprise you with a girl’s night. You don’t work on your art when you pull doubles, right? Plus, I’ve missed our chats, so here I am.” Shuffling past me, my sister paused when she noticed Bruiser on the sofa, and I shut the door before she grabbed my arm and hauled me into the kitchen. Her eyes flashed, and my heart thundered hard as she leaned in, to whisper-yell at me. “That’s the guy? Nicole! He looks like he could break you in half!”

  “He does!” The snarky comment escaped me before I could stop it, and I almost melted into a puddle when Jackie jerked back in shock. She threw back her head and laughed while I struggled to keep my head from popping like a volcano. “Okay, he was just leaving. His ride’s here. He brought my car back today. Just gimme a minute, okay? I’ll be right back, and then you can interrogate me all you want.” I’d be lying if I said I had the energy to do this, but I didn’t. Working at the restaurant exhausts me more than I can express.

  Holding up my hands to keep Jackie in her spot, I left the kitchen to find Bruiser standing, waiting for me. I grabbed his hand to lead him out of my place, and he didn’t protest as he cast a curious look at my sister on the way out.

  “She’s a character, ain’t she.” I nodded as I pushed open the door to the stairs, and I sucked in a huge breath and held it for a moment. Rubbing my face with my hands, a flurry of emotions slammed against my ribs, and Bruiser’s big, wonderful hands squeezed my shoulders knowingly. “Gonna have a rough night.”

  “I’ve found it’s just best to get it over with immediately. Otherwise, she’ll hound me forever.” Reluctance slowed my steps down to the ground floor, and Bruiser pulled me to him to kiss me deeply. I sunk into his chest, feeling this goodbye like a stab to the heart even though I knew we’d see each other again. “Text me that you got back safe.”

  “I will.” Bruiser grabbed the back of my neck and placed a hand on my hip as he slammed his lips down onto mine. Our kiss was hot and feverish, continuing to show me just how much we both wanted and needed each other. And then, all of a sudden, he broke the kiss, disappearing beyond the security door, leaving nothing but his lingering taste on my lips and a dense atmosphere only he could fill. Clenching my hands by my sides, I shook my head and headed back upstairs with heavy steps. If we lose contact, don’t panic.

  That didn’t sound good at all.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Bruiser

  “I think you need to grow some hairs on your balls, Cole.” Turning the wheel leisurely, I glanced over at my friend as a shit-eating grin stretched my lips. “You gotta stand up to her sometime, you know.”

  “Oof, he’s got you there.” Slinging his arm over the passenger seat, Parker jostled Cole jokingly, and I stopped at the final light before the suburbs. “You need to cut that bitch out, or she’ll suck you dry. Speaking of, you never said why she called you. What’s up this time? More money?”

  “She wants me to take Camden. Permanently.” Man, I’m glad I’m stopped. Turning to Cole as his dark, gruff declaration sucked the oxygen from the cabin, my eyes almost boggled from their sockets. The air went frigid, and despite the time of year, I could see my breath when I exhaled a shallow wheeze. Cole reached to scratch his jaw roughly, and I gulped down the dense lump in my throat.

  “What? Why?” Cole paled a shade or two, covering his mouth with his palm as tumultuous emotions roiled in his eyes. “Does she think he’s in danger? Is Mathew being a dick in that department, too?”

  “Nah, nothing like that . . . so she says. She says she’s stressed out and can’t take it anymore that she’s working two jobs and never has anything. Camden’s having trouble in school because she’s such a mess. Of course, she doesn’t think she is, but he’s lashing out at the female teacher and loving up on the male attendant. I’m not sure what if any of what she said is true, but . . .” Trailing off uncertainly, Cole caught my eye as Parker sat back heavily in shock. My truck jostled a bit, and I gripped the wheel in white-knuckle tightness as the pain shimmering in his eyes. “I don’t know what to do. She said she’d sign over parental rights and everything without contesting anything, but I just know this’ll backfire on me. But what about Camden? He’s only five, not even five for another month.”

  “I can’t tell you what to do, Cole, but I’ll back you up on whatever decision you make.” Reaching to clap a hand on his shoulder, I nodded before an impatient beep squeezed through the cracked open windows. Slowly rolling forward, I sniffled a little to try to clear my head of this dirty whirlwind. “Is that what she called you about when we did that pickup?”

  “Yeah. I’ve been sitting on it since, but I can’t . . . I can’t open that door. Kayla already shits on me, and I can’t imagine it’d get better if I took him. Then, I’d have to take her too, or she’d find some other way to use him against me.”

  “You don’t think she’d drop off the face of the earth without Camden tying her down anymore?” Parker, for once, wasn’t talkin’ shit, and a deep loathing thickened his tone. “I mean, it’s not uncommon. Even people that love their kids don’t stick around if they don’t have to.”

  “Your parents were career military, Parker. That’s not the same at all. I know you feel some type of way because your grandma raised you, but that’s all the difference. They did love you enough to make that hard choice. Kayla’s doing it because she’s a fucking irresponsible cunt. Did it ever occur to you that you were a mistake?” Cole stabbed Parker where it hurt, and the tension in the cabin rose significantly as my passenger turned to shoot him a glare. “Your parents weren’t wrong for giving you to your grandma when you were born. No, parents should give up their whole life for their kids, but don’t fucking cheapen what they did. They gave you to someone who can provide stability and love you, and they paid for it all. Do you know how difficult it is for someone to be raised, bouncing around place to place, never having friends, never decorating your own room because you know in a year it w
on’t be yours anymore? What about being stationed overseas? Can you fucking learn Korean or something when you can barely fucking learn English?”

  Cole’s voice roughened increasingly as he spoke, and I flexed my fingers around the wheel. He and Kayla hadn’t had an easy life in Las Vegas. That’s why he ran away when we finished high school. Spyder’s uncle put up with us and our shit out of the goodness of his heart, and Cole had been just as, if not more, devastated when he died.

  But, as much as I felt for him, I couldn’t get in the middle of him and his sister’s shit. I didn’t want to. As heartless as it was, I thought he should drop Kayla and Camden for his own sake. She was a leech.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that, Cole.” Cole rasped a sigh at Parker’s apology but jerked his head in a nod. “I just think, if she’s throwing him away, she’d do it completely and go live her life the way she’s been trying to this whole time?”

  “Yeah, until she wants something from me. Until the drugs and the money stop coming in, or she gets pregnant again, or she’s homeless, or . . . any multitude of reasons that are her own fault. If I take Camden, I’ll be opening that door. She’s his mother, and why can’t I help out? Well, she’ll go back to court and take him away. She’ll call CPS on me and accuse me of being a kiddy diddler. It goes way beyond simply giving him a home and stability. They’ll ask, how can I afford shit when I don’t have an official job. They’ll want me to live by myself because Davey caught a ton of shit when he quit the force. And they’ll try to drag Mathew in because he’s the biological father. It’s not just about Camden, even if it should be.”

  “O-oh.” It was kinda cute, Parker’s idealistic view of the world. But rarely did things work the way they were intended or designed. “Really? I thought they’d be jumping for joy, not having to put the kid in the system.”

  “You’d think so, but CPS is like communism in Vegas. It’s a good idea in theory, but in practice, not so much. I know you think your parents abandoned you, Parker, but they didn’t. They gave you to your grandma at birth, knowing she would be best for you. That’s a universe I can’t understand, just like you can’t understand mine.” The air was toxic, now, and I rolled down my window to hoover up huge breaths. “I’m sure there are good places, but Vegas isn’t one of them. Either way, I think the only way I could stand taking Camden is if Kayla was dead.”

  “So, just kill her yourself. If she’s asking you to take Camden permanently, there has to be a real reason, right?” My advice earned me a grimace, and Cole squeezed his cheeks before shaking his head.

  “I mean, it’s entirely possible, but Kayla got with Mathew over a coke binge in the first place. She doesn’t have the willpower to kick her drug habit. Maybe, she did get into some trouble with her supplier. Maybe she’s in debt. I don’t know, and I don’t care. And this is all about her, too. I don’t want to be Camden’s father figure. I don’t want kids. Not even him. If that makes me a villain. so be it.” My heart ached for him, and I reached to squeeze Cole’s shoulder. He jerked and inhaled deeply, visibly shirking off the conversation before changing the subject forcefully. “So, I’m glad Spyder took your advice the other day.”

  “What advice?” Taking a turn toward suburbia, my question never got an answer as a massive, jacked-up truck came shooting out of the cross street. Alarm bells rang in my head over the rev of an engine too powerful for the truck, but I couldn’t react before the impact. Glass shattering rattled up my arms, and I ducked as my truck was pushed off over a temporary, concrete barrier.

  My head spun, and I shook myself out as my ears rang and glass lodged in my face and arm. The truck that slammed me backed up, a heavy battering ram attached to the grill, and I blinked hard to see straight.

  “Bruiser!” Parker grabbed my arm to pull me out of the driver’s seat, and my seatbelt caught as the truck revved threatening. “Fuck!”

  Out of the corner of my eye, Cole crawled out the shattered back window, and I fumbled with my belt before Parker cut through it. Adrenaline surged through me, and my truck heaved with a horrendous crunch as I pushed Parker out of the cabin. He tumbled into the bed, and I followed closely as the left side tires lifted off the ground.

  “Fuck! Fuck!” Jumping out of the bed as the truck rammed mine over the boundary and flipped it, I rolled across the asphalt. My heart raced wildly, trying to escape the tight confines of my chest. At least a dozen Hellraisers poured out behind the house they’d been hiding behind, and I glanced over at Cole and Parker. “We need to run—”

  “Fuck that shit we need to take them on, or they’ll get worse.” Snarling at Cole’s snap, I rubbed my head roughly. Nicole’s better at it than me. Man, I expected shit to go down, but not in less than a day! Pulling a pocketknife out, I wished, suddenly, that I’d taken Rook here instead of leaving him at home. My palms tingled wildly around the warm metal, and I grabbed Parker as that stupid fucking truck raced off with skidding tires in a plume of toxic smoke.

  The noise was atrocious whooping and hollering and metal bats tapping on the asphalt. I couldn’t think through the sounds whirling around me, and I panted shallow and fast as bodies closed in on us.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Nicole

  “Oh, God! You said not to panic!” My voice crackled harshly, and half a dozen eyes locked on me as I stormed over to Bruiser. He couldn’t even look sheepish through the horrible bruising on his face, and I pointed an accusatory finger at him as my worry morphed into irritation. I couldn’t stop it, and tears pricked my eyes as I struggled to contend his current image with the one from just last night. “Why’d you come all the way to Provo! You’re not gonna die, right! I’ll be so mad!”

  “Shh . . .” My cheeks nearly melted at his drugged-up slur, and Bruiser grabbed me to pull me onto the hospital bed. He was shaking and cold, and I pulled up the blankets over him as he spent all his energy. Peeking under the sheet, I squawked in shock at the stitches holding the holes in his skin closed. “They got nothin’.”

  “You’re the chick he’s been shaggin’, right?” My head whipped up at the question, and I nodded as the big guy, Spyder, frowned at me through his thick beard. So much happened that day we met, I barely remember. We weren’t properly introduced, either. “He’s fine. Surface wounds and a concussion from being clocked in the head with a bat, but nothing that won’t heal fine.”

  “B-but why . . . why did you come all the way to Provo? There’s a hospital in Saint George?”

  “They refused to treat him and Parker.” Tensing up at that, the air rushed from my lungs, and my heart squeezed painfully. Spyder gestured around him in a sweeping motion, with a little shrug that told more than any words could. “Saint George is hostile territory for us. Thankfully, this convinced my mom to move. Parker got an airlift, but I don’t blame them for not wanting to antagonize the Hellraisers.”

  “Yeah, because now Bruiser’s fucked up, and Parker’s in a coma. Think about what they’d do to a little woman that wears superhero underpants.” Muttering more to himself, a guy I vaguely recognized sighed as he shoved his hands into his jeans. He looked beat up but not nearly as bad as Bruiser, and I could barely keep up with the conversation. “I didn’t think they’d be so brazen.”

  “Everyone knows Parker’s useless in a fight. That’s why you and Bruiser covered him. Don’t blame yourself for their decisions, Cole. Cut that shit.” Cole was Bruiser’s best friend, I think. There were simply too many people to keep track of, and I held my head in my hands.

  “Wait, you said he’s in a coma?” Snapping to Spyder, my eyes boggled a little, and my stomach flipped in horror when he nodded. “What happened? Why? Wh–”

  “Shut up and take a breath. Yeah?” My teeth rattled up my face and down my neck at Spyder’s snap, and he scowled at me darkly. “Parker took a bat to the face a couple of times. That idiot. His skull ain’t that thick. They put him in a medically induced coma until he’s in the clear. As for what happened . . . Bruiser was right . . .
as usual.”

  “That’s his job, right? To tell you when you’re being dumb, why didn’t you listen? When does being on the defensive ever work unless you’re pinned down! You weren’t pinned down!” I knew I wasn’t one to talk, but fury raced through my system and overwhelmed my common sense. Throwing myself over the edge of the bed, I poked Spyder hard in the chest, and he tensed. The air frosted over, and the silence was damning as venom dribbled from my lips. “How many times does he have to tell you you’re wrong before you realize you’re fucking wrong! You let this happen by ignoring the big picture to avoid some personal guilt!”

  My shrill shriek echoed in the hospital room, and I went cold when the waves were replaced with a high-pitched ringing. Stepping away from Spyder, I tensed when he raised his arm, but he rubbed his head and the back of his neck. “I know that. You don’t gotta rub it in.”

  “Someone does, Spyder, because this shit’s not inconsequential anymore.” Speaking up softly, Cole took my forearm, and I jumped as goosebumps blanketed my body. He smiled encouragingly, but I couldn’t breathe under the thick layer of dreariness before he turned to Spyder. “It’s not Bruiser’s ol’ lady’s job to pound nails in your coffin, but she’s right. You ignored Bruiser’s warnings, and look what happened. This is on you, Spyder. You need to take responsibility for it. They were going to your mom’s house, on your orders, when her safety should be a nonissue. What’s worse is now, we got the cops to deal with because we can’t keep this under wraps anymore.”

  “What does that mean?” A woman spoke up almost flippantly, lifting her head from deep in her phone screen to frown. “Just tell them it was a drunken brawl. It’ll be fine.”