by London Casey
I picked my head up and stared into the monster’s eyes. “I’m looking at you.”
“Tell me you accept it,” he said to me.
I nodded. “I accept it. I trust you, Trent. I just want to know everything about you. Is that wrong?”
“No, darling, it’s not wrong,” Trent said. He touched my face, tracing an imaginary line down my face to my jaw.
“Will you do something for me?”
“Maybe.”
“Take me to bed,” I said. “I don’t want to sleep alone. I want to sleep next to you. I want you to hold me.”
I saw the hesitation in his eyes and saw it spread across his face.
But then he sat up, taking me with him. His hands touched my body, holding me, protecting me. He was on the edge of the couch, I was straddling him. I felt his dick between my legs, still so beautifully thick and rigid.
And he just stared at me.
Maybe he was trying to figure me out. Maybe he was trying to intimidate me.
The truth?
That’s when I fell in love with him.
**
Trent’s hand gripped my hip tight as he fucked me again. His fingers dug, pulled, slamming his cock inside me as he got ready to come. His teeth grazed my shoulder. I held the edge of the bed and pushed myself back. Each hard thrust of his body sent me closer to the edge of the bed.
The sound of his body colliding with mine would be forever tattooed in my mind. I’d never forget that sexy sound of us being together.
“Ah, fuck, darling,” he growled and started to kiss my neck.
Trent kept going, moving himself up, hovering over me. He twisted my top half back. Then he kissed me. Oh, what a kiss. Not the kind of sloppy kiss you’d get while getting fucked. Not a hello or a goodbye kiss. This was a straight up, romantic, I love you kind of kiss.
And he kept kissing me as he came. My hips didn’t know what to do with the intense power that Trent possessed as he drove himself down and held against me. I tried to buck at him but I couldn’t. He remained right in that same position until he was done. Slowly, he pulled back and fucked forward, doing that a few times before leaving me for good.
This time he didn’t leave the bed though. He reached across me and touched the gun on the nightstand. It was fully loaded, safety off, ready to be used if needed. Then he turned off the light.
Trent wrapped his strong arm around my body and held me tight to him.
“Sleep tight, darling,” he whispered, his breath scattering across my back and shoulder.
I shivered, feeling another warm gush between my legs.
And I felt a dangerous warm gush in my heart.
twenty-five.
(trent)
I stepped off my motorcycle and looked to the shitty apartment building. A few years ago, officials in Daurian got together and decided to shop themselves out to some new developers. Their plan was to redo the east side of the city, taking old buildings and cleaning them up. Then they were going to sell huge chunks of land up north to be turned into new house and retail shit. The plan was to attract people from the hustle of the bigger cities and then create a vacation getaway place. We were only an hour or two from the mountains, where it got nice and cold and it snowed quite a bit. That was a huge change for most people who were used to being in a beach town and living in the sun.
The idea, on paper, seemed great. The problem? More attention on the town meant more attention on the MC.
The club had no choice but to police the deal ourselves and kill it off.
See, if they ran through and started cleaning up or knocking down buildings, it would push a lot of people out of their apartments and homes. Granted, they weren’t luxury homes, but they were all these people had. That would displace quite a few families and leave a lot of people running the streets, trying to deal to survive. Again, more attention, more police, more of a headache for Back Down Devil.
My father’s apartment building had been one of the buildings slated to come down. I hadn’t been this far east in a long time. We only ran through here if the violence got out of control and we were asked to help out. Imagine that. The fucking PD in town couldn’t even handle its own crime.
I put my helmet on my ride and looked back at Jasper and Cash.
Trev stayed back at the clubhouse to deal with phone calls and fall out of the messes we were trying to clean up. I kept Harlee at the apartment along with a few prospects and Max and Austin.
I hated that there were so many variables floating around. I didn’t do variables. I did control. I was the goddamn enforcer and that meant staying in control. Giving Harlee that ring was a mistake. And now the thoughts of giving her my heart… that was another mistake.
“Ready for this?” I asked.
“Always, brother,” Cash said.
“Why don’t you take the back, Cash?” I asked. “There’s a small patio out there. Hang tight in case something goes wrong. VP, can you stay out front?”
“I’m solid here,” Jasper said. “Do what you need to do.”
“I’m not here to kill him,” I said. “I’m just making that very clear. I’m here to find out how bad the situation is.”
“Understood,” Jasper said. “We still need to make that down payment before we worry about your old man.”
“I’m going to make sure he’s not thinking of bolting.”
I was trying to convince Jasper and Cash as much as I was trying to convince myself. That was the sad part of it all. The lines between right and wrong were always blurred for guys like me, but this entire situation, the lines were invisible.
I knocked on the door and then turned the knob.
“Fucking unlocked,” I whispered.
The apartment looked like a single guy lived there. Pizza boxes, beer bottles, and empty bag of chips on the coffee table. A TV with some sports program on. I could see straight across to the backdoor of the apartment. I saw the figure of Cash standing there.
I let out a little whistle. “Hey. You here?”
A second later my old man appeared, coming from the right. He had a towel over his shoulder, half his face lathered up with shaving cream. In his left hand was a razor. In his right hand was a gun.
I quickly drew my weapon because you never fucking knew what could go wrong.
“Trenton?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Put that fucking gun away, old man.”
My father looked at the gun and stepped forward, placing it on the TV stand. He then pointed to his face. “I was just cleaning up a little. I have a job interview today.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said.
Job interview? Probably going to hustle some cash.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “Everything okay?”
I tucked my gun away. I looked around the apartment. “Still living like this?”
“You know the economy.”
“You eat anything besides pizza?”
“Pussy,” he said and grinned a fake white smile grin. “When I can afford it.”
I shook my head. “Clean yourself up a little more often and you won’t need to pay for it.”
“Ah, not me,” he said. “I have an acquired taste…” He put fingers together and kissed them. “I can’t just take some two-in-the-morning bar pussy. Never my style.” He turned and waved at me to follow. “Come on. I have to finish shaving.”
I followed the old man to the small bathroom. It smelled of cheap soap and was thick with a heavy wetness from the shower. He wiped the mirror with the towel and went back to shaving. I listened to the razor peel against his skin.
“Let’s talk about what you can afford,” I said. “Because I heard some stuff.”
The old man tapped the razor to the sink, splashing shaving cream and specks of hair into the sink.
“I’m not worried about it,” he said. “I’ll manage it, like I always do.”
All the old man’s fingers were crooked from getting broken so many times.
“With a
job?” I asked. “What kind of job is that? Going to be a doctor?”
The old man looked at me. “And what do you do for a living? Huh? Fix up old cars and bikes? That’s what you want me to believe?”
“You know what I do,” I said. “It’s the life that came to me. The life that saved me. Maybe I’m here trying to save you.”
The old man finished shaving and wiped his face with the towel. He left the sink a mess and then tossed the towel to the shower.
“I don’t do the leather and motorcycle thing,” he said. “Trenton, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m perfectly fine.”
I blocked the doorway. “Tell me you’re not in debt anymore.”
“Of course I have debt. Everyone in the goddamn country has debt. I don’t live luxurious but I get by.”
“You know what kind of debt I’m talking about,” I said. “You owe for gambling, drugs, and pussy.”
The old man smiled. “I only go for what I can afford. Which is why none of it is here, Trenton.”
“I’m supposed to believe that?” I asked.
“Come here, let me show you something.”
I was then following the old man through the apartment. He opened the fridge and showed me he had whole milk, some oranges, an apple or two, and some orange juice. He opened all the cabinet doors and stood there.
“Want to search?” he asked. “Treat me like a fucking child?”
“No,” I said. “I heard some shit, that’s all. Heard you’re in for quite a bit.”
“Not me,” he said.
It wasn’t the first time the old man lied to me. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it sort of bothered me. I closed in on him, having a good four inches on his height. I could break him in a second if I needed to.
“Look me in the eyes and tell me,” I said. “Father to son. I want the truth. I’m owed the truth.”
Trent, what the fuck is the point of this? What are you going to do? Stand up to the O’Nuall family and pay off your father’s debts?
Yeah, the entire scene was useless.
But I wanted to hear it. I wanted to feel it again. The lies. The deception. The hurt.
“Tell me you have no debt on the streets. No gambling. No pussy. No drugs. Tell me you’re not in on some big crews or families.”
The old man reached up to me and touched my face. “You’re a man now, Trenton. You’ve been a man for a long time. You’re not my little boy anymore. You have nothing to worry about when it comes to me. Understand?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Well you should. Because I’m giving you a straight answer right now. I’m fine. No debts. No thugs coming to break my hands. No crews coming to shoot me in the head. Okay? I’ve got a few grand on some credit cards, that’s it.”
“That’s the truth,” I said.
“The entire truth, Trenton.”
I slowly backed away. I nodded. “Then I guess I better be going.”
“Good. Go live.”
“Good luck with that job interview,” I said.
“Yeah, sure. I’m sure I’ll nail it.”
I made it two steps from the kitchen when the old man called my name. He was the only person that called me by my real name. Trenton.
I looked back at him. “If you ever need anything, Trenton. You know where I am.”
Damn, those words were cryptic. Dangerously cryptic.
I stormed out of the apartment and made a line for my ride. I needed the thunder and the road.
I climbed on the motorcycle as Jasper stood next to me and Cash came running from behind the apartment.
“What the hell is going on?” Cash asked.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Did you get what you need?” Jasper asked.
I looked at him and nodded. He put a hand to my shoulder. Together, we both nodded.
I was no longer going to be Trent - or Trenton. I was going to be the monster. The enforcer. I would die for my club… and lately… I would die for Harlee.
I looked to my right and saw the old man standing at the window. Our eyes met. He knew there was a bullet coming for him. That was something he lived with everyday for the last twenty years, probably more.
What he didn’t know was that the bullet was going to come from his son.
**
“I spoke with Peter today,” Trev said, addressing the full table. “Everything is in place. We’ll ride south and east, meet up for the fight, and then spend the night. Pack for a campout, guys.”
“Question,” Cash said. “Will Peter and his friends be bringing some of that fine and tough pussy with them again?”
“Yes,” Trev said.
Cash smacked the table. “Goddamn, there is a God. The last time I had some of the Russian pussy I could taste it for days. Oh, fuck, I’ll never forget her… just her name… but she climbed up on my face and rode me so hard there’s probably still some of my beard inside her. I think her name was Kathryn. Kate. Katie. Kat. Ka… or maybe it was Sarah.”
“So, not to spread too much excitement,” Trev said, “but the plan is to stay and enjoy the evening with our other continent comrades. Peter and Ivan are hell bent on Nevada and I told them I would talk to Miller and make sure they’d have support from the MC.”
“Does that negate this fighting shit?” Duke asked.
“Hardly,” Trev said. “Just a favor that we could call back on.”
“I’m good with fighting,” I said, taking in all the conversation. “I think it’s important we really show our strength to everyone we can get to. Look at this from an outside point of view. You have a clubhouse falling apart. Ripper dealing behind the MC’s back. The new President is from another charter. We look shaky. We look unstable. And this gun shit is making it worse. Let me get in the ring with their best guy and rock his fucking world.”
“He’s putting up Denis,” Trev said. “The guy is a world champion fighter.”
“Shit,” Jasper said.
“What happens if the worst happens?” Max asked.
“What’s the worst?” I asked, curling my lip.
“You get your ass tattooed out there,” Tristan said. “Then what?”
“We look foolish,” Trev said. “Peter and Ivan move on. If I had to guess, I’m sure they’d still be wiling to help in some way. Their version would be bloodshed. They prefer a rampage kind of style and then hightail back to Russia until the smoke clears. We don’t have that option here.”
“So don’t lose the fight,” Jasper said with a grin.
“I’m not losing anything,” I said. “If I go down, I’ll personally rip this enforcer patch off my cut and hand it over.”
“We would never vote you out for that,” Hudson said.
“I didn’t say to take a vote,” I said.
“What’s the word on Night Soul?” Cash asked.
“We’ve got them on the wire,” Trev said. “Rocco and Gunner are settled for the moment. I reassured them we are working with the O’Nuall family about their guns. They have no choice but to believe us. What happened with Mays shook them up.”
“And Daxton?” I asked.
“He’s missing still,” Trev said. “We’re well protected here. Rocco has his men out looking too.”
“Anything else?” Jasper asked, looking around.
I rubbed my chin and raised my hand. “I’ve got something to say.”
“Shoot,” Trev said.
“This might sound out of line, but I’m going to call for a favor when I win this fight.”
“We’re getting cash for this fight,” Jasper said. “Cash to protect our club.”
“I’m not looking for a favor from the Russians,” I said. I looked around the table. “I’m looking for a favor from this club. This table. My brothers.”
“What kind of favor?” Trev asked.
“I know how to end all of this… and make some money to rebuild ourselves…”
twenty-six.
(harlee)
I
slipped my hand over Eden’s swollen belly and bit my lip. I was so nervous touching her stomach, but she insisted on me doing it. I knew sometimes pregnant women were touchy about being touched and rightfully so.
Butterflies kicked up in my stomach as I touched her. Of course, I used my left hand and the second I saw the ring on my finger it made me think of Trent, marriage, and now pregnancy.
That was just too normal though, right? An outlaw like Trent…
I gasped. I looked at Eden. “I felt it. I mean, him. Or her. The baby.”
Eden laughed. “Yeah, she kicks quite a bit.”
“She?” I asked.
Eden smiled big. “Don’t say anything. Right now, me and Trev are keeping it low key. But I want to freak out.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s a girl,” Eden whispered.
“I thought women wanted little girls.”
“A little girl in this life?” Eden asked. “I don’t know. It’s scary.”
I glanced around the clubhouse and then laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Eden asked me.
I took my hand from her stomach and touched her hand. “Hey, you can look at it two ways. One, you’re going to have a daughter in a really scary world like this one. But we both know the other side of this world isn’t much better. Two, that little girl who is going to grow into a young woman and then a woman is going to have a built-in family and plenty of bodyguards who aren’t just going to talk the talk but walk the walk.”
Eden snorted. “I feel bad for anyone who looks at her.”
“So what’s there to worry about?”
I saw in Eden’s eyes there was plenty to worry about. It was sort of nice to make a friend in the clubhouse. Eden sat at the end of the bar like royalty. She was the President’s old lady, so in some ways that made her queen.
All it took was one bullet to change all our lives.
“So that ring on your finger…,” Eden said.
“Yeah,” I said. “I don’t know. Trent…”
