by Lane Hart
“Wow. This place is…it’s all your wife’s, isn’t it?” I ask Torin.
“Yeah, it was,” he agrees. “Come on. I’ll show you Liam’s room.”
Down the hallway and through the third door on the left is an adorable nursery with motorcycles on the sky-blue walls and even colorful bikes hanging from the mobile.
“Did you name him?” I ask Torin softly after he sits Liam’s carrier down on the navy-blue rug that takes up most of the floor.
“No,” he answers while his eyes roam around the room. “She wanted to see him first before we decided on a name.”
“Are you sure it’s okay for Liam to stay in here? To sleep in his crib?” I ask, my eyes tearing up as I think of the baby who should’ve slept here.
“Stop asking me the same shit over and over again,” he snaps under his breath while squatting down to unfasten Liam’s harness. He picks him up and then lays him down on the bed. Going over to the tall wooden dresser, Torin grabs what looks like a baby monitor from the top and hands it to me. “Here. You can watch him while I show you around.”
“Thanks,” I reply as I take the device. Sure enough, it’s a video of Liam from a camera that’s mounted on the wall above his crib.
“You can sleep in the room next to him, just don’t go into the master bedroom,” Torin says. When he walks down the hall, I follow him to a bedroom with plain, white walls, no pictures or knickknacks. Just a queen size bed with a soft, yellow comforter, a low-dresser with a mirror and a bedside table.
Torin lets out a heavy breath like he isn’t as tense in this room because it doesn’t hold any particular memories.
“You have your own bathroom, but it’s small,” he says, walking over to turn on the light to the room in the corner.
“It’s great,” I tell him, especially since I don’t plan to stay here long. Liam will need his own room for when he stays over, but I want to get a job to save up for a place of my own even if it’s no bigger than this bedroom.
“I need to shoot something,” Torin says while his fingers tug on a handful of his dirty-blond hair.
“Um, okay?” I reply in confusion.
“Come on. Bring the baby monitor and your gun. I have a range set up underneath the house. I soundproofed the entire area; it’ll be fine,” he tells me before he rushes out of the room like he can’t wait to get out of the house.
…
Torin
“Now, exhale, ease your finger back on the trigger and aim at the target,” I tell Lexi.
She releases her breath and then fires, hitting the silhouette right through his left eye.
“That’s pretty good,” I tell her. “Keep going.”
With the next round, she takes out the silhouette man’s right eye before blowing off where his nuts would be with the next three rounds.
My jaw drops in disbelief since we’re thirty feet away. She’s either having incredible beginner’s luck or she’s a pro. “Did you do that on purpose?” I ask.
“Yes,” she answers when she lowers the gun and flashes me a smile.
“Why didn’t you just tell me you knew how to shoot a gun?”
“Because it looked like you needed a project to keep your mind off of moving back in,” Lexi replies. “And I’ve never held a gun this small before,” she says as she turns it over, testing the weight. “A Ruger .380 suits my petite hands much better than a nine or a .40 caliber. It was a great choice.”
“You know guns too,” I state in surprise as I rub a hand over my beard. I thought the same thing about the handgun when I spotted it in the store. And fuck, I need to shave. I bet I look like a homeless man nowadays.
“I do know a little bit about guns,” she agrees. “Now, would you like to see who’s a better shot?”
“Seriously? I have top-of-the-line military training,” I point out. “You really think you can beat me?”
“Yes, I do,” she answers with a grin, her dark eyes sparkling with a competitiveness that, combined with the fact that she not only knows how to hold a gun but actually shoot it, is sexy as fuck. “Loser changes Liam’s poop diapers for the next week?” she offers.
“You’re on,” I agree since that prize is fucking priceless. I’ve only changed two of them, and both nearly made me vomit. “Let me hang up another target.” Pointing my index finger at her before I step into the path of her gun, I warn her, “Don’t shoot me.”
“Ha-ha,” Lexi replies. “What’s the matter? You worried I’ll shoot your balls off too?”
“Yes, actually. And I like my balls right where they are,” I respond.
Once the circular target is hanging, I walk back to Lexi and tell her, “Closest to the bullseye, best out of three?”
“Easy,” she declares before she pops out the clip, reloads it like she’s done it a million times before, and then slaps it back in. After yanking the slide back to load the first bullet, she fires three quick shots, all of which go through the dead center of the small red circle.
“Nice,” I tell her, knowing I need to put all three of my bullets right through her hole to win.
“Thanks,” she replies before offering me the butt of the gun. I set my grip, which is awkward because the gun is made for women or men with tiny hands, and then fire. My first shot goes wide to the left about three inches. The next two I’m able to get closer to the bullseye, but Lexi is the clear winner.
“You had a lot more practice with this gun than I did,” I remark.
“Don’t do that. Don’t be a sore loser. I beat you fair and square,” she taunts. “Admit it. Your military training doesn’t have anything on me.”
“I bet I could beat you every time with my rifle.”
“Too bad that wasn’t the deal today.” Lexi carefully removes the gun from my hands and then blows off the non-existent smoke from the muzzle before removing the clip and sliding them both into her front pocket. “Have fun with all those poopy diapers,” Lexi says with a proud smile. She bends over, showing me her ass when she picks up the baby monitor from the ground and starts walking back toward the stairs.
“You can’t tell anyone about this!” I call out to her retreating back.
“Try and stop me!” she yells back.
After she’s gone and I’m still standing there with my mind blown, I realize that there’s an actual smile on my face. I don’t remember the last time I smiled while being on this property that feels haunted by Kennedy’s ghost.
Maybe living here with Lexi and Liam won’t be as hard as I thought it would be.
Instead of being relieved, the idea only dumps more guilt over my head.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lexi
The conversation I need to have with Torin is not going to go well if I’m totally honest with him, so I decide not to even have it out. He’s still at the clubhouse, handling business like usual. I’ll be gone and maybe even back before he gets home, since he tends to stay out late most nights.
Over the last few weeks, Liam and I have settled in nicely. Torin’s place doesn’t really feel like home yet, and I’m bored out of my mind spending all of my days and nights here. So even if I didn’t need the money, I would still want to work just to get out on my own every once in a while, and save up for my own apartment.
I pick up the cell phone Torin bought for me after I moved in and call Chase’s wife Sasha, who is becoming an actual friend, my only friend, who visits me and Liam a few times a week. She jumps at the chance to babysit, at least for tonight. It’ll take some time to find a good nanny, but I’m sure I can find someone who can take care of Liam just as well as Joanna did.
The doorbell rings around six-thirty, so I rush to open it.
“Thank you so much for coming over –” I say when I open the door, pausing momentarily when I see that Sasha isn’t alone. Chase is with her.
“Where’s my nephew?” he asks before he storms in past me.
“You brought back-up?” I whisper to Sasha in surprise.
&nbs
p; Her teeth bite down on her bottom lip. “Was I not supposed to tell him?” she asks. “You should’ve told me that on the phone!”
“No, it’s fine. Sorry,” I apologize. “It’s just, Torin wasn’t keen on the idea of me getting a job, so I was hoping he wouldn’t find out, at least not right away…”
“You got a job? That’s great!” Sasha says when she wraps me in a hug. “Where are you working? Is it second shift?”
“Um, well, it’s at Avalon,” I answer when she pulls away to see my face. Her jaw nearly hits the floor.
“The Avalon? The topless dancing Avalon?” she asks in a rush.
“That’s the one,” I answer with a cringe. “It’s not like I have any other skills or qualifications.”
“Torin is gonna go full-on Hulk rage when he finds out,” she tells me.
“Then let’s not let him find out,” I say.
“You do know that the MC owns the club, right? And that, as president, Torin is pretty much the owner?”
“He doesn’t handle the hiring. Cooper does. And Coop gave me the job,” I reply with a shrug of my shoulders. “Please don’t tell Torin.”
“Hell no,” Sasha says. “I’m not gonna tell him or Chase, because I don’t want either of us to get caught up in Hurricane Torin’s wreckage. You, on the other hand… Well, the brothers are all tight. All it will take is one seeing you there, and then it’s on.”
“I think you’re overreacting,” I tell her. “Torin and I are just living together and co-parenting. That’s it. He can’t get angry at me for wanting to earn an income after I’ve been mooching off of him for weeks!”
“I don’t think it’s the earning that he’ll have a problem with, but the doing it topless part,” Sasha points out.
“Again, Torin Fury doesn’t get to have a say in where I work or how I earn money. My options are limited, especially since he doesn’t want me to go back to Vegas.”
“I understand,” Sasha replies. “I just hope he behaves when he finds out.”
“I’m sure he will. We’re both rational adults who are just trying to take care of our son.”
…
Torin
“Yo, Torin? You got a second?” Maddox asks from the doorway of the chapel. I’ve been drowning in ledgers and accounting bullshit for hours now, so I’m happy to come up for air.
“Yeah, what’s up?” I ask as I toss my pencil down to crack my knuckles and lean back in my chair.
“Well, let me start out by saying that I know that it’s none of my business,” the kid rambles. “But I mean, I figured I should at least say something in case you didn’t know. Hell, maybe you do know; and if so, I’ll look like an ass…”
“Just spit it out, Maddox,” I tell him, ready to finish up so I can get home. Lexi and Liam will be asleep already, but I’ll probably catch them both for his midnight feeding.
“I just saw Lexi’s tits,” he blurts out, causing my eyebrows to join my hairline for a brief moment. A moment right before I’m out of my chair and shoving the kid into the wall by his throat without even a thought.
“You’ve got five seconds to tell me what the fuck you were doing looking at Lexi’s tits before I spoon your goddamn eyeballs out of their sockets,” I growl right in his face.
“She’s dancing. At Avalon,” he gasps.
Dancing at Avalon? Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“She’s stripping? Lexi’s taking her clothes off for money?” I yell when I let his throat go. “Are you fucking with me?”
“No, sir,” he mutters as he rubs his now red neck. “She was just on stage. That’s why I came to tell you.”
Why didn’t Coop or Miles tell me? Do they want me to rip their balls off? Because that’s what they’re asking for by letting the mother of my child dance naked for strangers.
Avalon is so close that I don’t even need to take my bike. I storm right up to the brick building and through the front door like I own it, because I fucking do.
“Where is she?” I snarl at Coop when I snatch him up by his collar.
“Ba-backstage changing,” he stammers.
“You and I are gonna have fucking words about this later,” I tell him with a finger pointed in his face after I let him go. Right now, though, I need to get some clothes on Lexi and drag her ass out of this club to take her home. What the hell was she thinking? And where is Liam?
In the hallway, strippers and bikers jump out of my way as I storm toward the door that leads backstage. Miles is on bouncer duty tonight, standing guard at it, and he scurries away.
“Sorry, prez,” he says. “I thought you approved this.”
I mutter a curse before I go through the door…and catch Lexi either in the middle of changing, or having just come off stage. All she’s wearing is a tiny pair of purple panties and matching black and purple garters. When she looks over and sees me, her hands come up to cover her bare, heavy tits that dozens of men just got an eyeful of, yet she doesn’t want me to look at them. Fuck that.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I shout at her so loudly that she startles and her entire body jumps. Several other girls gather their things and bolt from the room.
Closing her eyes for a second while taking a deep breath, she squares her shoulders and lifts her chin but doesn’t drop her hands from her breasts. “I’m working,” she answers. “What the hell are you doing?”
“You’re supposed to be home watching our kid. That’s all the work you’re supposed to be doing tonight!” I yell.
“Liam’s fine. Sasha and Chase are with him,” she replies.
Chase knew she was working here and didn’t tell me? Jesus fuck.
“Chase didn’t know, so don’t get all pissed off at him,” Lexi says, as if she can read my mind. If she actually could, then she would run because that’s how fucking angry I am at her. I shouldn’t be allowed to be in the same room with her, especially when she’s half naked.
“Get dressed,” I tell her.
“No,” she replies.
“Get dressed now. I’m taking you home,” I inform her through clenched teeth. How did she get here? She must have caught a ride with someone or an Uber….
“No,” she says again. “My shift doesn’t end until one.”
“Your shift ends right fucking now,” I counter.
“No, it doesn’t,” Lexi huffs. “You’re not my father. You’re not my…boyfriend or anything else, Torin, so you don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do.”
“Wanna bet?” I ask.
“What are you gonna do? Drag me out of here kicking and screaming? You can’t kidnap me just because you don’t approve of my job,” she says.
Instead of a rebuttal, I go over and snatch her up, tossing her small, curvy body over my shoulder so that her ass cheeks are in my face.
“Torin, put me down!” Lexi says as I spin around and head back out the door and down the hallway. “Torin!” she yells when I ignore her, and then she starts smacking at my ass with her fists and attempting to wiggle out of my hold. It’s pointless. I’m bigger and stronger, so she’s not going anywhere unless I want her to. “Torin! I swear to God, you better put me down!”
When Coop sees me coming, he hurries to the front door to hold it open for me.
“Cooper! Cooper, tell him to stop!” Lexi shouts as we walk right past him. “He can’t do this!”
Does she not have any idea what the MC rules are? Not a single one of my brothers would lift a hand against their president unless they want to get their asses kicked and then excommunicated. That’s if I let them live. Coop only got away with his shot at my face in Vegas because I had technically stepped down.
Once we’re in the parking lot, Lexi apparently realizes how fucked she is because her feistiness doubles. I wasn’t expecting the blow to my balls from her foot, but maybe I should’ve. The pain staggers me at first before my knees go weak, so weak that I drop to them on the pavement.
“You little bitch,” I grit out as I g
rab my balls with my left hand and grasp her body tighter in my right.
“You have no right!” she screeches as she continues to try and fight to get free.
“Need any help?” Coop calls out from the entrance.
“No!” I shout back to him. The last thing I want is him putting his hands on Lexi’s body. A body that I’m starting to notice smells delicious, just like Kennedy’s warm vanilla, and is slick from oil or lotions and really damn slippery.
“Stop fighting me,” I warn her while I try to regain my bearings after the nut hit. When she continues to squirm, I turn my head to sink my teeth right down into her juicy ass cheek, causing her to yelp in pain. Then, her fingernails find the bottom of my shirt and start raking their way up my spine. If she was trying to hurt me, she failed. Instead, I relish the pain; and it only makes my cock swell with need. When she stops clawing at me, I haul back and slap the shit out of her ass so hard my palm continues to sting. Lexi gasps in response before her body goes completely still. It’s as if she finally realized that fighting me is pointless, and maybe, just maybe, she’s giving in to me.
If only I could figure out what exactly it is I want from her and whether or not she’ll let me have it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Lexi
One minute I’m hanging over Torin’s shoulder and he’s spanking me, and the next he’s back on his feet, carrying me through the parking lot and toward the sound of crashing waves. He drops me down on the sand and hovers over me for a moment, his face unreadable in the darkness before he flips me over so that I’m on my hands and knees.
“Wh-what are you doing?” I ask, breathless from my struggles, now refusing to move an inch.
Rather than answer me with words like a normal person, Torin instead shows me exactly what he’s doing. He jerks my panties down my thighs, and then his tongue licks a path right down the crease of my ass.
