Creed realized something else as well. He was a pussy ass coward because he didn’t want to die alone. So he’d endangered them all, just like Jack said. He knew he had to leave. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if Jack and his wife and that beautiful, angry, fiery woman out there were harmed because of him.
“Car.” He decided. “They won’t think to look for that. Get something nice. Real nice. Won’t think to find me in that either. And a fake ID wouldn’t hurt. Passport and driver’s, social security. Whatever you can get.”
“You thinking of getting out of town?”
“I know by town, you mean country. So yeah. Yeah. Going to Canada. It’s not far.”
“If they’ll let a sorry, shot up mother fucker like you in. It’s going to be real tough to get your ugly mug a believable fake ID. You know that?”
“I’m sorry, Jack, that I’m such a burden to you.”
Jack rolled his eyes. Creed didn’t miss the way the guy’s hands tightened at his sides. He wanted to lay a fist into his face and Creed damn well knew it. If he wasn’t so beat up already, he’d probably let Jack take a swing. One free shot. He deserved that.
“You’re more than that, you pain in the ass. Just- just get better, alright? I’ll worry about the rest of the shit.”
“Don’t make it too fake, Jack. No Ivy League stuff like you got. I ain’t got it in me to pull that off. I can’t do the nine to five, white collar, starched shirt, suburb living, two kids and a dog and a cat life.”
Jack stepped closer and actually set a hand on Creed’s shoulder. It wasn’t warm. It was far more like ice. Or maybe he just felt it that way.
He nodded once. Hard. His eyes burned into Creed, straight down to his soul. The same way his blue-eyed goddess looked at him.
“Don’t worry. I know who you are. I haven’t forgotten. And I’m not impressed. You could have found me on a basic online search.”
“How are you so sure I didn’t?”
Jack couldn’t take it any longer. He removed his hand, shook his head, and snorted. The full-on grin that split his face was absolutely genuine. “Because I know you. Unfortunately. We might not wear the same colors anymore. We might not even be on the same damn planet, but you’re still my brother.”
After, in the shocking seconds that passed, there was a current of something almost… touching.
Creed didn’t know what to do with it and neither did Jack. They were just like every single other guy out there in that they were shit with expressing any kind of feelings. Emotion. Creed didn’t do that. It was messy and gross and just fucked everything straight to hell.
So he let Jack turn around and leave the room and he pretended like he didn’t notice or feel whatever it was that hit him straight in the gut. He had to remind himself he had no family. He was alone, like he’d always been. Like he always had, he was going to make it. He was a survivor.
Chapter 5
KATE
A few days ago, even though she wasn’t completely sure she altogether liked the guy, Kate would have said she trusted Jack. She would have said her sister’s marriage was a happy, normal one. She and Jack had jobs. Worked during the week with the weekends off. They had a nice house with a backyard and a two-car garage. They each drove. They had their little quirks, but hell… finding out that her sister’s husband had once been in some kind of gang or club or whatever, like, finding out for real, not just the little hints that she’d gathered over the years, was a lot to digest.
Kate planned on springing on Jack the minute he walked into the kitchen after talking to Creed, but the look on his face forced her to swallow back the words she’d planned on hurling at him. No, not words. Accusations.
He looked exhausted. Deeply tired. There was something in his gray blue eyes that she’d never seen before. Fear. Or was it worry? Were those one in the same?
“Jack?” Kate leaned on the kitchen counter, assuming a more casual position. “Where’s Tia?”
It clearly wasn’t the question he expected and his head inclined to the side, as though he was trying to decide whether or not to trust her. “She wasn’t feeling well. She went upstairs right after work.”
“I know, I saw her. I just- is she- I mean, is she worried about all of this? Is that what’s going on? She didn’t say two words to me.”
“No.” He sighed and his face paled a little. It didn’t exactly inspire confidence and a shiver ripped up Kate’s spine. “No, it isn’t exactly the situation. Or maybe it is. Maybe it’s everything. I don’t know.” Jack scrubbed a hand over his face. “I can’t have this conversation without a drink first.”
“What conversation?”
“I- just let me get a glass-”
“No, Jack, what conversation?”
Kate leaned further onto the counter. Jack’s mouth opened. And then the shower turned on. It was a distant hum in the background, a turning of noisy taps and a slight bang in the pipes, a dull hum in the background.
The shower on the main floor was right next to the guest room. The bathroom was just down the hall. The other shower was in the master bedroom, which belonged to Jack and Tia. Kate could already tell the noise wasn’t coming from there.
“Uh- what- who is using the shower?”
“You already know. We’re here. It’s not Tia.”
She gulped. “How the hell is that possible? The guy looked like he was on death’s door all day. He could barely even get words out. It was a struggle for him to turn his head.” It wasn’t exactly a struggle for him to pop a damn hard on or play a sick joke on me though.
“He- I gave him a few days and told him he has to be gone. I’ll get him what he needs and he’ll be on his way. You know that every single day he stays here is one where we are put at risk. If it was just me, it would be different, but I have Tia now and you’re here.”
“I’m alright.” She surprised them both with her words.
Jack offered a smile that wasn’t really a smile at all. It was like the kind of smile an indulgent parent gave to their bratty kid. “Kate, no offense, but you have no idea what kind of men are coming after him. Honestly, neither do I. I have no idea what level of evil he’s got himself mixed up with. I wasn’t a part of that.”
“No, but you were a part of something. Some kind of club before. A biker thing?”
“I- it’s better that you don’t know. Anything. At this point. I can tell you more later, when it’s safe.”
She crossed her arms. “How about you tell me more now. Like how about starting with how you even know the guy? What were you mixed up with before you met my sister? How did you go straight? Or did you even? Does she know? Does she know all of it? I’m guessing that’s a yes, since she hasn’t flown off the handle, unless she did that out of the house, when I couldn’t hear it. Start with telling me how you plan on getting this guy exactly what he needs to get the hell out of here?”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. God, his eyes were so different from her own. There were a million shades of blue, she realized, and at the moment, Jack’s eyes weren’t any of them. She didn’t think gray was an actual eye color, but his eyes were hard as flint at the moment.
“You know, for someone who isn’t a journalist, you ask a lot of questions. I could easily shoot a few back at you. How is it that you’re over thirty and yet you haven’t even had a single relationship? You have a good job, but you’ve somehow been able to take two weeks off out of nowhere and come here, just like that, as a surprise for Tia? You bounce around from man to man, never letting any stick for longer than a week or two. So, Kate, why don’t you tell me, what it is you’re really so afraid of?”
She crossed her arms, ready to tear her sister’s nosy, far too perceptive husband, a new one. How did he know so much about her? Oh right. He was married to her big mouthed sister.
The angry retort died a hard death when Tia called for Jack. Her voice was off. It sounded little and lost and a little frantic.
Jack didn’t give Kate a second th
ought. He lit out of there like someone was holding a gun to his wife in the other room. Kate stood in his wake, his angry, unrelenting words swirling around her. What are you so afraid of? You haven’t had a single relationship…
Kate blew out a frustrated breath. It was the whole damn situation. They were all on edge. She’d pressed Jack and he’d pressed back. He wasn’t even unkind, just… he was just asking questions, just like she was. The tough ones. Ones that hurt to ask and hurt even more to hear.
Kate moved closer to the fridge. She planned on getting herself a nice tall glass of OJ. Cancel that, a nice tall glass of OJ, with an inch of juice and eight inches of vodka. That should just about take the edge off… or knock her out into next week.
She was closer to the stairs and her sister’s frantic voice drifted down. “I- Jack, I threw up on the bed. I’m so sorry- I-”
And Jack’s voice, soothing, calm, so filled with love that it hurt to even hear it. “Shhh. That’s okay. Come here.”
Kate imagined Jack wrapping her sister up in his strong arms, Tia resting her head against him, inhaling his familiar scent. She imagined just being held would make her sister feel better.
When had Tia thrown up? She always had been a quiet puker. Once they’d got drunk together. Tia had literally thrown up in the backseat of the car next to Kate and she didn’t even know until she looked over.
A massive crash from down the hall brought her head up. Her hand paused on the handle of the fridge door. Oh come on. Please no. Why me? Right. Because there was no one else available at the moment.
Fuck. Fuck all of this. Every single minute. Kate rushed down the hall and found Creed leaning heavily against the wall. He, thankfully, had a pink fluffy towel wrapped around his waist, a hand thrown out for support, and was breathing heavily.
“Oh no. I’m not falling for this shit again,” she grumbled.
“I- I’m fine.” Creed waved her off. “Just got dizzy.”
“And decided to smash right into my sister’s favorite wedding photo.” Kate glanced at the wrecked frame and the shards of glass on the ground.
“Sorry.” Creed looked at her sheepishly.
“Well god, what did you expect getting out of bed and attempting to shower? You could barely even open your eyes this afternoon and now you’re up and walking around? Or maybe you were hoping to find something on your travels? A weapon you could use against us?”
Creed shook his head and let out a low groan of pain. “Of course not. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Me?” she gasped indignantly. “Me? Seriously? You really want to go there right now? Don’t push me. Like I said earlier, I’m sleep deprived and frustrated and it’s not a very nice feeling knowing that a bunch of devils could break down the door at any second and slaughter us all in our beds.”
“Uh- right.” Creed’s eyes strayed to the photo. “I’m sorry. When I can, I’ll replace it.”
“Jack told you that you had to be out in a few days. Is that why you’re up?”
“Yeah. Something like that. I’m good though. I’ve been worse off than this before. Tomorrow I’ll be good as new.”
“I wish that was true.” Kate tried very hard not to notice how droplets of water beaded off Creed’s slicked back hair. It trailed over his insanely broad shoulders, down over a beautiful chest, beautiful even with the bruises and cuts and swelling. His waist narrowed and a smattering of dark hair peeked out right from where the towel hung on his hips.
It should be fucking illegal to be that sexy. Or… sexual. At the moment, there was a defined difference. Creed wasn’t sexy. The aura that he exuded was dangerous, violent, dark, definitely sexual. He was goddamn beautiful, as far as men went. And Jack had just reminded her in the kitchen not so subtly that she did indeed find the male body to be quite- pretty.
Kate cursed herself as she squeezed her thighs together a little tighter. The hair stood up on the backs of her arms and at her neck, but not in a bad way. In a very aware kind of way, as though she’d just stuck a fork in an outlet and got a little zap.
“Would you mind- uh- helping me back to the bed? I’m not so sure that I’m not going to fall right over.”
Kate gave herself a shake. What the hell was she thinking going off the rails like that? Creed must have noticed that she was staring at him. She went completely hot and icy cold all at once. She was sure her face was red to the roots of her ebony hair.
“I’m not falling for that shit again.” She laughed to cover up her embarrassment. Where were all her charm and poise and composure when she needed it? Oh right. Gone out the damn door right along with her common sense.
Creed’s lips curled up in a smile. “That was quite funny.”
“No. No, it wasn’t.”
He held up a hand in surrender. His face paled and at the moment, he really didn’t look well at all. Like he’d exerted every ounce of will and strength to get himself into the shower.
“You stupid man,” Kate grumbled. “Alright.” She edged closer. “Lean on me.”
Against her better judgment, she let Creed drape an arm over her shoulder. She wrapped one around his waist. Which was hard, silky smooth, and warm. Blisteringly warm. Her hand felt scalded just touching him, so she moved it lower, to the towel. Which was a mistake. The terrycloth was damp, but just as warm, his hip hard and thick below.
Focus. Focus on just getting back into the bedroom.
Twenty feet had never felt so long in her life. For one, Creed was insanely heavy, and he really was leaning on her. Hard. She took his weight, though it made sweat bead on her brow and just about killed her. Literally. She felt close to collapsing herself. Finally she pushed open the door and staggered the remaining few steps to the bed.
She went to dump Creed on it, already promising herself she wasn’t going to look if that damn towel gaped open, when his arms wrapped around her shoulders. He turned them awkwardly and when he collapsed onto the bed, she fell right on top of him.
Kate let out an indignant huff and pushed hard against the rock hard chest, trying to right herself and tear away from arms that were like granite posts around her. Creed struggled too. He pushed himself onto the bed, tangling their limbs further. She thrashed harder, pummeling his chest, which did absolutely nothing at all.
She froze when she felt it. There was no mistaking what it was. The hard ridge digging into her stomach. And damn… it was huge. As in, like a bloody tree trunk huge. Her body lit up like a fourth of July celebration and her determination to get away was renewed. She raised her head and looked the bastard right in the eye.
“You tricked me,” she hissed.
His wicked grin told her right away that she was correct. And then, before she could move or say another word, his arms let her loose, his massive hands gripped her face and tugged her up to him.
“You bast-” her angry oath was cut off as he crushed his mouth to hers.
Chapter 6
CREED
The woman above him was indeed a goddess. Or a witch. She had him under some sort of spell, something he’d never known before and was powerless to fight. Her lips were a straight shot of adrenaline, right to his frantic heart. He saw stars, literally. It could have been the weakness, the blood loss, the bullet wound, the beating, but he’d been through all of that before and he’d never known an explosion in his brain like the one he experienced when he crushed his mouth to hers.
His eyes flew open and he pulled away. Twin sapphires stared back at him. The woman’s lips were redder than before, swollen from his kiss. The skin around them, down to her jawline, was bright red where his stubble chaffed it raw. His cock was very much alive, very much pressed into her stomach. She’d fallen on top of him, nearly straddling him and he could feel her heat right through those tight little black leggings she had on. The kind of thing women wore to yoga and shit. The kind that rounded out their ass into two twin globes and crawled up their backside in a version of the world’s most sexual wedgie.
“You’re a bastard,” his goddess hissed down at him. Fire sparked in her eyes, but despite all her protests, he recognized the raw need on her face, the pink in her cheeks, the way desire made her pant.
He reached up and brushed a strand of long, ebony hair away from her temple. “I can be a bastard,” he agreed. “If you tell me your name.”
“My- my name?” Her beautiful brow creased, like she was confused.
“I don’t know it. You never told me. But you know who I am. Wouldn’t you say it’s fair?”
“You’re an asshole.” She tried to push him away, and he let her. She sat up in just the right position to take his cock deep inside of her. If she didn’t have those damn sexy leggings on. If she wasn’t steaming mad. Because he’d tricked her. Again.
“Have you ever heard the fool me twice saying?”
“Fool me twice, fuck you. Fool me twice, I cut your cock off with a kitchen knife?”
“Jesus.” He shuddered. His hands gripped a set of the curviest, sexiest hips he’d ever encountered in his life. The curves of her ass dug into his legs as her spine straightened and he grunted. His cock responded, springing out of the towel which had fallen away. It stood up in the air between them. “So violent with the knives and the guns. And always my cock. Why shoot it off or cut it off when you could enjoy it in so many other ways?”
“You’re sick.”
“Undoubtedly.”
He licked his lips and was honestly a little surprised when he saw what kind of effect it had on her. The woman slowly echoed his motions, her pink tongue darting out to lick at her red, lush lips. Lips that tasted like heaven. He wanted more. He needed more. Heaven was a place he was never going to get to. He might as well take whatever came close while he still had breath in his lungs.
She jerked back, the motion doing nothing to help his aching cock. The light was out in the room, the door was closed. The blinds were open just a crack and a golden glow filtered in from a light on the house somewhere or maybe even from the street. It was just enough light to illuminate his goddess completely. Including her face.
Lonely Rider - The Box Set: A Motorcycle Club Romance - The Complete Series Page 31
