Rip's Baby: Hounds of Hades MC

by Nicole Fox

  “I know I've been pushing you a little too hard this semester,” Gary said. “And I'm sure that with all the hours that you're putting in around your dad's shop that things have been stressful. I'm sorry that I've made things feel that way. I'm just so excited to see how much ingenuity I can get out of you that I sometimes forget that you're only a very novice designer still. Maybe I've asked you for too much. Is that why you won't be coming back?”

  I sighed and shut my eyes briefly, counting to ten in my head. I really didn't want to have this conversation. I should never have brought it up in the first place. I should have just let Gary continue to believe that I was coming back the next semester. Now he just wouldn't let it go, but I was done trying to justify my actions to him.

  “Look, Gary, my reasons are none of your business,” I told him. “I just don't want to come back. It's not going to happen. Now, please, I have things that I need to do tonight, so if we could finish this review ...”

  Gary's face turned nasty at that. “I think they're every bit of my business since I'm your academic advisor—or did you forget that?” he asked.

  And, suddenly, something inside of me snapped too. I was tired of being the good girl, tired of just going along with what Dad said, or with what Gary said. I started to get angry, and I stood up, scowling down at the man. “Well, maybe I'd have an easier time remembering that you were my academic advisor if you acted like my academic advisor!” I cried. “If rather than trying to sleep with me, you actually genuinely wanted to help me get ahead in this field. Don't lie to me and tell me that you want me to come back next semester because you think I have so much potential. You just want me to come back next semester because you haven't quite managed to stick your dick in me yet and you still want desperately to do that.”

  Gary stood up as well, and I immediately regretted the words that I had just said when I saw the look on his face. He was bigger than I was, and he had no problem grabbing me, wrapping his arms around me, and fully immobilizing me. “You little bitch,” he snarled, his breath hot against the shell of my ear. “How dare you speak to me like that.”

  I swallowed hard, struggling against him. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't even really draw in enough air with how tightly he was holding me. I clawed at his arms, but he nothing seemed to faze him and he didn't let go. “Gary, please,” I said, twisting around.

  “I'm done playing games,” Gary snarled, pushing me back against his desk. He grabbed at my shirt and tore it open, reaching out to grope my breasts through my bra.

  I screamed, but Gary seemed to have been expecting it, and I only got a little noise out before he slapped me hard across the mouth, sending me toppling sideways. Once I was down on the floor, Gary climbed on top of me, easily tearing off my panties. He shoved them into my mouth, effectively gagging me, and then he pulled out his cock, preparing to shove it into me.

  There was nothing I could do. He had a tight grip on my wrists, and there was no way I could get out from underneath him. And I couldn't even scream or sob anymore, not with the fabric gagging me. I could feel tears streaming down my face, but that wasn't going to do anything to save me.

  The door to Gary's office suddenly flew open. “You fucking bastard,” I heard someone snap, and then suddenly the weight was gone from me. I could hear a scuffle from behind me, but I didn't want to look, and I didn't want them to see me.

  I pulled the panties out of my mouth so I could at least breathe properly—or as properly as I could, with sobs shaking my whole body—and I huddled against the bottom of Gary's desk, wishing I could just disappear.

  “Jessi—Jessi, are you okay?” Rip asked, kneeling down beside me. I flinched away from him, and he seemed to grow even more frantic. “Jessi, did he hurt you? Did he-”

  “No,” I choked out. “He didn't...” I couldn't help myself from flinching again as Rip laid his hand on my shoulder, but he left it there, a warm, comforting weight.

  “Oh, Jessi,” Rip said, sounding sad. “I'm so sorry I didn't get in here sooner. I didn't know anything was wrong until I heard you scream.”

  “How did you even get here?” I asked, looking tearfully up at him.

  Rip grimaced a little. “Don't get mad at me, but I or someone else from the Hounds has been tailing you for a couple weeks now, ever since you told me about the problems that you were having with Ellsmith,” he said. “I didn't tell you about it because I didn't want you to feel like I was ...I don't know. I just wanted to make sure that you were safe.”

  I glanced over to where Gary was lying on the floor, knocked out by whatever Rip had done to him. That was when I realized that it wasn't just Rip there, but a couple other Hounds who I recognized vaguely from the clubhouse. I made a soft noise of distress and pulled the remnants of my shirt closer around me.

  Rip's face darkened and he immediately took off the flannel shirt that he'd been wearing over his tee-shirt, wrapping it around me. I hugged it close, inhaling his spicy scent and reveling in how warm it still was from his body heat.

  “Do you want me to call the police?” the other biker asked.

  “That's up to Jessi,” Rip said, looking seriously into my eyes, his palm resting against my cheek.

  I shivered and shook my head. “If we call the police, they're going to have you arrested for assault, aren't they?” I asked.

  “Don't worry about that,” Rip said. “I'm sure there's some sort of thing about assault if you're helping a woman who's being ...” He trailed off, clearly not wanting to say the word.

  I swallowed hard. “But there's no proof that I didn't …ask for it,” I muttered. “Anyway, he didn't end up doing anything.” I glanced over at him. “I highly doubt he's going to try anything ever again.”

  “Of course he won't,” Rip growled. “Because I'm not letting you anywhere near him in the future.” He looked over at his buddy. “Frankie, you're still on good terms with the provost, aren't you?” he asked.

  The other man, Frankie, grinned at us. “Oh yeah,” he said. “In fact, it's about time I had a good, long chat with her about the way this place is being run.”

  I blinked at him and then looked back at Rip. “Are you saying...”

  “Sorry, darling—I know you liked Ellsmith as a professor and that you see the good in everyone, but it's about time this guy stopped tormenting innocent women like you,” Rip said grimly. “He shouldn't have any place in a reputable university like this.”

  “Okay,” I said quietly. I didn't really want to think about any of it, about what would happen to Ellsmith or his reputation, because I didn't want to feel guilty. I shouldn't have to feel guilty.

  I shuddered again, and Rip put his arms around me, easily lifting me up. “Come on, let's get you out of here,” he said.

  “I can walk,” I protested. “I want to walk. I don't want anyone else to see me like this.” I choked a little, but the words were true. Anyone else from the department might see us walking down the hallway, and that was the last thing I needed. It was going to be bad enough if anyone connected the fact that Ellsmith and I had been ...doing whatever they thought that we'd been doing …and suddenly he was fired for misconduct, but I didn't need to give them more to talk about.

  Rip sighed, but set me down on my feet. He leaned in to do up the buttons on his flannel, though, and he tucked it into my skirt to make it look like maybe this was the outfit I'd been wearing all along. I couldn't help trembling a little at his gentle touches, but neither of us said anything.

  “Rip, you need any more help with this, or should we just leave him here?” Frankie asked.

  “I'd like to tie the fucker up and gag him like he gagged Jessi,” Rip snarled, “but let's just leave him there. And let's get out of here before he wakes up.” He looked over at me, smiling grimly and handing me my portfolio. “I know that you probably want to head home and be by yourself tonight, but I'm not letting you out of my sight.”

  “Okay,” I said quietly, surprisingly okay with that. I pulled out m
y phone to call dad and let him know I wouldn't be coming home before my curfew.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Jessi

  When I came into the shop the next morning, Dad was already hard at work with a welding gun and a bunch of machinery scattered around him. He wasn't working on J.T.'s bike. It was one of the other projects that we had at the moment—a smaller project. I wondered what it meant that he wasn't leaving those other projects to me or Rip, and I swallowed hard.

  What if he really wouldn't let me work around the shop anymore?

  “Dad?” I asked hesitantly, when it seemed like he had reached a break in the work that he was doing.

  “What is it?” Dad asked without looking up.

  I swallowed hard, feeling tears at the corners of my eyes. It was like he didn't even want to acknowledge my presence there.

  I wished Rip were there with me. He'd offered to come with me, but I'd told him that I needed to have this conversation with Dad by myself, to try to sort out all of this. I knew that things would be better that way, if I could just face up to my dad about all of this, but at the same time, I could have used Rip's comforting presence at my sidea and his warm hand in mine.

  “Ellsmith is getting fired,” I said timidly.

  Dad looked up at that, a sharp look in his eye. “Oh, really?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” I told him. “He, uh ...” I trailed off, not really wanting to admit everything that had happened the night before. “He tried to ...do some things to me. Unsuccessfully.”

  Dad looked like he might explode at that, and he got to his feet, coming closer to me. “I'm going to kill the bastard!” he snarled, echoing the words that Rip had said when I'd first told him about Gary's advances.

  I shook my head. “It's okay,” I told him. “Really. Like I said, he was unsuccessful.” I took a deep breath. “That's because Rip's had one of the guys from the Hounds watching over me at all times over the past few weeks, and when they heard Gary and I in his office … they were there to come to the rescue.”

  I could see a new look of appreciation in Dad's eyes, just as I'd hoped I might. I pressed on. “Rip really saved me last night. I know you think that he's trouble, but he really does care about me and want to keep me safe.”

  “That's where you were last night,” Dad said flatly. “At the clubhouse.”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head. “Rip took me back to his place after the whole thing with Ellsmith. I was pretty upset, and he was a bit shaken as well, and I didn't want to be all alone to think about all of it. And he was so good to me, Dad. He made me some soup and got me all curled up on the couch with a blanket, and then we just watched a movie and cuddled. It, uh, it really helped me calm down.”

  Dad blinked at me and then shook his head. “He made you soup?” he asked incredulously.

  I smiled a little. “Yeah,” I said. “And he made me drink some orange juice. He said he read somewhere that it's supposed to help people who have had panic attacks and he figured it might be a similar sort of thing.”

  Dad frowned and shook his head. “Jessi, this kind of stuff is exactly the reason that I don't want you getting mixed up in the biker community,” he said. “You're too pretty of a girl to be running around with a bunch of asshole dudes like Ellsmith and-”

  “Don't you dare call Rip an asshole,” I interrupted, a warning note in my voice. “Dad, he's been nothing but good to me, and you can't deny that he's helped out a lot around the shop. Plus, I know that if he and I weren't ...doing whatever it is that we're doing, you would actually like the guy. You have a lot in common, and ...well, I just don't think he's all that bad.”

  Dad was silent for a long moment. “What happens with this whole internship that Ellsmith was trying to arrange for you?” he finally asked.

  I shook my head. “I didn't want that even before all of this stuff went down,” I admitted. “I like the things that I'm learning in my classes. They're interesting to me, and I think they're going to make me a better designer in the long run. But I don't want to work for one of the big corporations. I don't want to machine-build all of my bikes. I like being in your shop here, getting my hands dirty, and sometimes just learning things through trial and error—what works and what doesn't work. I like tracking down all the pieces that I need, like it's some sort of scavenger hunt.”

  I paused to take a breath, shrugging a little sheepishly. “Dad, I've always wanted to take over the business once you retired,” I told him. “I don't need some fancy internship in a big company in Cleveland to do that. I need to spend more time around here, learning everything that I can from the owner of this little business.”

  Dad frowned at me. “Jessi, I don't particularly want you-”

  “I know, I know,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “Dad, there are only so many battles that we can fight today. Can we just agree that Rip and I are allowed to do whatever it is that we want to do, and leave things at that?”

  “What exactly are the two of you doing?” Dad asked curiously.

  I blushed. “Sleeping together,” I admitted, since that was the real crux of it. “But also, he’s there for me to talk to, when I need somebody to talk to. And ...” I trailed off, blushing. “I really like him, Dad.”

  Dad sighed. “He said pretty much the same thing to me,” he admitted.

  “When?” I asked curiously.

  “Not too long after you snuck out to sleep with him the first time,” Dad said, narrowing his eyes at me.

  I blinked at him. “Really?” I asked. Thinking of Rip as just another dumb biker dude, that seemed really out of character. But it also didn't fit the stereotype for him to stop sleeping around once he'd slept with me. The more I got to know Rip, the more I was beginning to realize that he was a really surprising man—soft but with a bit of a dangerous streak. That was what made things interesting and had made me fall half in love with him already.

  I couldn't help smiling a little to myself.

  Dad snorted and shook his head. “Fine,” he said, tossing his hands in the air. “But if you ever so much as think of doing something illegal ...”

  I shook my head. “Dad, Rip isn't going to let me get caught up in any of that kind of stuff, I promise,” I told him.

  “You should have him over for dinner sometime this week,” Dad said after a moment. “I'd like to get to know him properly outside of work, if he's going to be a big fixture in your life. And I suppose I owe him some thanks after last night.”

  “Yeah,” I said soberly, thinking back to the previous night. “So do I.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Rip

  J.T. wolf-whistled as I came downstairs dressed in slacks and a collared shirt. “Jesus Christ, man, I didn't know you could clean up that nice,” he said, a devilish glint in his eye.

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “You've seen me dressed up before,” I said.

  “Not like this,” J.T. said. “I bet you're even planning on bringing her flowers, aren't you?”

  “Wine,” I admitted.

  “You should bring flowers, man,” Frankie said seriously. “Chicks love that shit.”

  “How would you know?” Wes asked, a sneer on his face.

  That set off a whole shouting match between them and everyone else in the area. I watched with some amusement, trying to calm my nerves. J.T. got up from his seat and wended his way over to me, clapping a hand on my shoulder. “So you really like this chick, don’t you?” he asked seriously.

  I rolled my eyes. “Has that not been obvious?” I asked.

  “It's been incredibly obvious,” J.T. said slowly. “Come on, you've got a bit of time. Let’s have a drink before you go.” He steered me over towards the bar and reached around to grab glasses and a bottle of scotch, ignoring Mikey, the bartender, who was down at the other end of the bar chatting with some of the other guys.

  J.T. took a sip of his drink, swirling it around his mouth and seeming to think about what he was about to say. I frowned at him, wo
ndering just what had gotten into him. “Look, I don't want to stress you out or anything, but I just wanted to remind you that if this girl is going to be hanging around the clubhouse and becoming a thing with you, then there are certain rules that go along with that.”

  I could feel my ears burning. “Man, we're not becoming a thing,” I complained. “I mean, we might actually start officially dating, but I'm not about to propose to her or anything like that. That shit's a long way off.”

  J.T. shrugged. “I know,” he said. “I know how you work, Rip. But we all saw her come in here in tears the other night, and we all saw how you reacted to that. And we've all heard about Gary Ellsmith getting fired from his collegiate role, pending an investigation into his personal conduct ...”