by Nina Levine
“King, you crazy motherfucker! It seems you’ve finally gone and pissed someone off enough for them to come at you,” Nash Walker said later that afternoon when he and some of the Brisbane chapter arrived.
I threw some of the whisky sitting in front of me down my throat. Hyde and I had spent the last hour in here drinking after taking care of the two assholes sent by Romano. The buzz filling my veins was exactly what I fucking needed.
Scott Cole joined us, and I motioned for Kree to pour a round of drinks for everyone. “Heard you and Hyde got your hands a little dirty this afternoon,” he said.
I drained my glass. “Not fucking dirty enough as far as I’m concerned.”
The bar filled up as Griff, J, and Havoc eventually found their way inside, and my men returned from a long day out dealing with club business.
It had been eight days since Jen and her baby had been murdered. Between keeping the club running, ensuring the safety of our families, and chasing our fucking tails trying to find Romano, we’d hardly drawn breath. All of us were wound so fucking tight that we were close to breaking point. Cole and his boys arriving gave us a breather from the stress.
As the sounds of laughter and loud, alcohol-fuelled discussions filled the bar, Axe motioned for me to follow him and Zane outside. The rain that had fallen all day had subsided, but thunder continued to roll through the sky, with the occasional flash of lightning.
“I just heard back from my guy, and he was right that the cops have stuff on Bronze. They’ve been watching him for a few months and also have a source who’s been feeding them information. You think he’d turn on you for them?” Axe said.
I shook my head. “No. He’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“We’d always agreed that if shit came to this, I’d set him up with cash, a new identity, and a network to help him disappear. I did that today. He’s long gone.”
“And his family?” Zane asked.
Neither of them knew Bronze’s story, so I filled them in on how we came to work together before adding, “Devil is with Bronze’s sister, and I’ve let him know what’s happened. He’ll make sure she and her family are taken care of. Bronze knows that.”
“I hope you’re right about him,” Axe said. “He could cause you a lot of problems if you’re not.”
“Yeah, he could. But he won’t.” Bronze and I may have had a lot of fucking disagreements over the last seven years and gone head-to-head often, and he may have been on the other side of the law to me, but we were connected in ways no one knew about and would never know about. That was as per Bronze’s wish. Those ways hadn’t been planned, and I’d never done the things I’d done for him as a strategic move to keep him in my pocket, but I knew deep in my bones that because of what I’d done, Bronze would never turn on me or the club.
I watched as a car drove up the driveway towards us. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to figure out who it belonged to. It was almost 6:00 p.m. and I wasn’t expecting anyone.
Lily.
Skylar was expecting her.
My belly tightened.
Fuck, the physiotherapist with a body made for fucking. Every time I saw her, I noticed something new about her. Yesterday it had been the way her neck flushed when she was cranky and bossy. And fuck had she ordered me around. Anyone else who tried to pull that shit on me wouldn’t make it through the front door of this clubhouse again, but there were two things about this woman that altered that consequence. One, Skylar needed her, so I chose to put up with her attitude. And two, there was something about Lily’s smart mouth that turned me the fuck on. However, as much as I may have wanted to fuck her senseless, I wouldn’t risk putting Skylar’s rehab at risk. Women did some crazy fucking shit after I screwed them. I wasn’t interested in anything but sex, and I could get that anywhere, so I’d keep my dick in my pants where Lily was concerned.
But that was easier said than done when she was standing in front of me. And when she’d massaged me yesterday, I’d gone to fucking war with myself over wanting her. I’d given her ten minutes to rub that shit into my skin. It was nine minutes more than I could handle. As I’d walked her out, I’d decided to find some pussy to work that need out of my system. But club business had gotten in the way, and I never got around to that. So here I was, a good two weeks since I’d been laid, thinking about all the ways I’d make a woman I’d never fuck, come.
“Fuck,” I muttered, “I’ve got shit to do.”
Ignoring Axe’s and Zane’s confused expressions, I turned and headed back inside, not stopping until I made it to my office. Sitting at my desk, I pulled out the bottle of whisky I kept in my drawer and took a long swig as I thought about going in search of a club whore. While neither of the ones here today were my preference, that didn’t matter. Both were good with my needs and more than willing to let me fuck them how I wanted.
I shoved the whisky bottle back in the drawer and stood to leave when the half-opened office door creaked open some more. “King? Are you in here?” The door opened all the way and Lily smiled up at me. “Sorry to barge in, but I have some information to give you. I saw you outside so wanted to catch you now in case you leave while I’m with Skylar.”
I stared down at her, taking in the tight jeans she seemed to like to wear. Her long dark hair was long enough to cover her tits, but today they were on fill display because she’d swept her hair up into a ponytail. Fuck, my dick jerked to life as I thought about running my tongue down between her breasts while I wrapped my hands around her throat.
“King?”
“Yeah.” I dragged my eyes up to her face and found her watching me intently, her face flushed. “What information?”
She thrust some papers at me. “Just some recommendations for furniture and other things that would help Skylar’s recovery. Mostly, she needs a different chair to sit in. The one she has is too low. And she also needs a stool to keep her feet up.”
I took a step back to rest against the desk and look over the information. She’d detailed the items and listed places where I could get them. Glancing at her, I said, “Thanks for this. I appreciate it.”
She smiled again. “If you need help with any of it, just call me.” Moving next to me, she reached for one of the pieces of paper. Pointing at it, she said, “And this guy? I know him well, so if you mention my name, he might give you a discount.” Handing the paper back to me, she frowned. “Are you okay?”
Jesus, she was closer than I’d prefer, but I didn’t shift away from her. Not when she smelt so fucking good. “Yeah. Why?”
“You’re grimacing. Have you got another headache?”
I was grimacing due to her proximity, not another headache, but before I could answer her question, she dumped her bag on the desk and madly searched in it for something. Pulling out her bottle of peppermint oil, she said, “Here, let me rub some more into your temples.”
Grabbing her wrist to slow her, I shook my head. “I don’t have a headache.”
She stopped and looked down at my hand around her wrist, before looking back up at me. “Oh, okay. That’s good.” Her words were a little breathless, which only fucked with my dick some more.
We watched each other in silence for a few moments, until her phone rang. Digging it out of her bag, she pursed her lips together and said, “Sorry, I have to get this. It’s Linc.”
I nodded, expecting her to take it outside of the office, but instead, she put the phone to her ear and said, “What’s up, Linc?”
As she listened, her face twisted with what I assumed to be frustration. Holding her free hand up in the air, she said, “Hold up a minute. You agreed to help the kids with their homework and assignments, so why are you guys at the movies?”
Linc said something, to which she replied, “This is bullshit. And it means that I’m going to be up late with Zara tomorrow night helping her, because her assignment is due on Friday. If I’d known you had no intention of working on that tonight, I wouldn’t have let them sleep over. I could have
split the assignment time over two nights that way.”
I watched with amusement as Lily waved her hands all over the place throughout the rest of the conversation. She was pointing and jabbing her fingers as if he were standing in front of her. When the call ended, she looked at me with wide eyes and said, “Oh my God, I could kill that man! Do you know what he’s done now?”
I tried not to laugh. “What?” I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest and settled in to hear what she had to say.
Dropping her phone back into her bag, she said, “He’s arranged tickets for them all to go to some motor racing thing on Saturday night. It starts in the afternoon, and he wants them from lunchtime.”
“Is this a bad thing?”
Her eyes widened some more. “Yes! Well, I mean, it’s awesome he wants to spend time with them. I’m all on board with that. But, Robbie has karate on Saturday. He’ll have to miss it now, and that is bad. Linc shouldn’t have organised stuff without asking me first.”
“Why is it bad for Robbie to miss karate?”
She exhaled loudly as if I’d asked the dumbest question. Or maybe it was just complete frustration; I couldn’t be sure because I didn’t know her tells. “My son’s coordination isn’t the best, and he doesn’t really love sport. However, he likes karate, and it’s been so good for him. Plus, he’s come out of his shell there and made friends, which is something he struggles with at school. He’ll be disappointed to miss karate, but I know he won’t say anything to his father because he doesn’t like to rock the boat where Linc is concerned. On top of that, his instructor told me they’ll be going over some important stuff this week, and I don’t want Robbie to miss out on it.”
“Can you take Robbie to karate and then drop him off to Linc afterwards?”
She pulled a face. “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because my car isn’t working at the moment, so I can’t get him there.”
“But you can get him to karate?” She wasn’t making a lot of sense.
“Well, I can get him to karate in my sister’s car, but she needs her car straight after that so I wouldn’t be able to then get him to Linc.”
“Is that your sister’s car you’re driving today?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s wrong with yours?”
“It needs new brakes. My mechanic can’t fix them until next Monday, and I don’t know of any other good mechanics.”
I mentally ran through everything I had on tomorrow and worked out I could spare one of the boys for a while. “I’ll send someone over to your place tomorrow to fix them. Just leave your keys somewhere outside and text me where they are.”
Staring at me like I’d just offered her the world, she said, “Oh wow… are you sure?” I didn’t miss the way her body visibly relaxed, some of the tension she’d been carrying now gone.
I uncrossed my arms and stood. Moving around the desk, I said, “Yes.” Grabbing the bottle of whisky from the drawer, and two glasses from the cabinet behind me, I poured two drinks. Passing her one, I said, “Here, you look like you could do with this.”
I’d half expected her to argue with me, but she didn’t. Instead, she took the glass and downed half of it in one go. Wiping her mouth, she nodded. “I most definitely did need that.” She then threw the rest back before placing the empty glass on the table. Meeting my gaze, she said, “If I didn’t have to drive home, I’d beg you for more.”
The thought of Lily begging me for shit wasn’t a thought I needed in my head, so I changed the subject. “Did you pull your ex’s name off your gym membership?”
A smile spread across her face. “I did. He mustn’t have been to the gym since I did it, though, because he hasn’t called me about that yet.” She paused for a moment before adding softly, “Thank you for that tip. I need to stop letting him walk all over me with some stuff.”
I drank some of my whisky. “Yeah, you do.”
She picked up her bag. “Thanks for the drink and everything. Are you sure you don’t need some more peppermint oil before I go see Skylar?”
The last thing I needed was her hands on me. “I’m good.” Jerking my head towards the door, I said, “Go.”
Blasting me with one last smile, she nodded. “I’ll text you about my keys tomorrow.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face after she left. Christ, I really fucking needed to get laid now.
29
Lily
* * *
“Cheers!” Adelaide grinned at me as she raised her glass. “And now it’s time for us to find you a man who will fuck that celibacy out of you.”
I returned her grin and nodded. “Hell yes!”
After dropping Robbie to Linc after his karate class, I’d called my bestie and begged her to take me out for the night. It was the perfect opportunity; it wasn’t often I had a Saturday night to myself. Addy had rounded up the girls and we’d arrived at the club just over an hour ago. I had enough alcohol in me that all my problems didn’t seem like problems anymore. Fuck, even Linc could call me and say pretty much anything without pissing me off.
After I’d taken a long gulp of my cocktail, I eyed Quinn who sat next to me. “Are you still seeing that butcher? The one from the butcher shop with all the hot dudes.” It was my favourite butcher to buy meat from. I swore they had a policy of only hiring sexy men with beards.
Mmm, beards… King had a beard.
Shit, where did that thought come from?
Stop kidding yourself. You’ve been thinking about that man for days.
Quinn waggled her brows. “Yes, and he’s fucking good in bed. Let the record show how much I love you, babe. I had plans with him for hot sex tonight, but I cancelled that for you.”
“Aww, you loves me, Quinny,” I gushed as I leant my head on her shoulder for a moment.
Our other friend Georgia laughed from across the table. “I love it when Lily gets drunk. She gets that smooshy, lovey vibe going.”
“Yes!” agreed Addy. “I love watching her hit on guys when she’s all smooshy. They bloody fall at her feet.”
“Girl, they do that even when she’s not drunk,” Quinn said.
Adelaide laughed. “She’s been celibate for so long I’d forgotten that.”
“I’m right here and can hear everything you’re saying,” I said.
Quinn smiled at me. “And you’re all smooshy, so you don’t really care what we’re saying.”
“True,” I said and then drank some more of my cocktail, smiling like a loon.
My phone buzzed with a text.
“Oh for fuck’s sake, that better not be Linc,” Adelaide muttered.
“I’m ignoring it if it is,” I said, checking the text.
* * *
King: Your brakes still good?
* * *
My tummy did somersaults. We’d been exchanging texts since he had one of his guys fix my brakes. Mostly he checked in on my car, and I checked in on Skylar. So nothing fun, but I couldn’t deny I got a thrill every time I saw his name pop up on my phone.
* * *
Me: I guess so.
King: You guess so?
Me: Well I’m not out driving around at the moment. I’m getting trashed and looking for a man.
* * *
He didn’t come back with a reply, which disappointed me.
“Who was it?” Adelaide asked as I stared at the phone, willing him to send another text.
“King.”
“Who’s King?” Quinn asked.
“The sexy biker dude who fixed her brakes,” Adelaide said.
I looked up from my phone. “We met when his sister was in an accident. I worked with her after her op.”
My phone buzzed again.
* * *
King: Watch out for the assholes.
Me: May have had too many drinks to spot them.
Me: But I’m not looking for a husband here.
Me: Just need someone who knows what he’s doing for a night.
/> * * *
Again, no reply.
“Ooh, Lily, what about this dude coming our way?” Quinn practically bounced in her seat as she smiled at the guy and motioned for him to join us.
He was definitely good-looking. I could tell that much through my alcohol haze. And tall, which was always important as far as I was concerned.
“Hello, ladies,” he said, settling himself between Quinn and me. Nice strong voice, which was another tick.
“Umm, girls,” Adelaide said as she slid off her seat. “I need the ladies. Who’s with me?”
Quinn and Georgia quickly slid off their seats, too. “Be back soon, Lil.”
The hot dude watched them leave before turning back to me with a smile. “I take it they didn’t really need to go to the ladies.”
“Correct. They’re keen for me to get laid tonight, and it looks like you might be just the guy to take care of that for me.” I threw the rest of my cocktail down my throat.
His smile grew. “I like your style.” He nodded at my empty glass. “What are you drinking?”
“A Margarita please.”
“Don’t go anywhere, gorgeous. I’ll be right back.”
I tracked his ass as he walked to the bar. Nice, but not as nice as King’s.
I got lost in thoughts of King’s ass when my phone buzzed again.
* * *
King: Don’t accept drinks off anyone.
Me: Oooh Mr Bossypants is in the house.
King: I’m serious. Fuck knows what shit they’ll drop in there.
* * *
Shit, he was right. And I’d just let a guy buy me a drink. I glanced across at the bar to see if he’d been served yet. Squinting, I located him still waiting for the bartender. My gaze dropped to take in his hand on the ass of the woman standing next to him. She giggled at something he said and then leant in close to whisper in his ear.
