by KB Winters
I asked a few of them to meet me there to work out a solution to the problem of Rocky’s crazy former boss and ex-boyfriend. When I pulled up to the clubhouse Cross waited around the back where customers weren’t allowed. I walked up and he handed me a cold beer.
“A little early for a beer isn’t it?”
He shrugged, leaning back on the wooden table Gunnar had a few of the prospects put together last summer, a sweaty green bottle hanging from his fingertips. “Never too early for beer and this isn’t even the strong shit.”
I took the bottle and drank in silence for several long minutes, trying to make sense of this shit. Rocky had been with me for three days and I hadn’t found out any more information than I had on the first damn day.
“Remember that redhead chick from San Diego?”
“The best night you ever had? Even better than that night in Kiev?”
“Yeah. Well, she’s about two months pregnant with my kid and on the run from her ex.”
“Shit.” That was Cross, talkative as ever.
“Yeah and she’s not asking me for anything but a few days to come up with a plan, but I can’t just let it go at that. I have to help her, and I hope that means you guys will help too.”
By the time I finished speaking, Savior and Max had come out, along with Golden Boy, Jag and Stitch. Gunnar was still handling personal business and the rest of the guys were taking care of club business.
“Man, this shit is serious.” Jag stepped forward with his hands shoved deep into his pockets. “I know of the Killer Aces. A cousin of mine in Long Beach said these fuckers are crazier than regular crazy. Genesis didn’t make it as an Angel of Reckoning, so he put together a bunch of assholes too crazy for any other MC and created Killer Aces. They’ve taken over Southern Cali with brutal efficiency.”
Shit. That’s the last thing I wanted to hear because I could hear what no one had said yet. What they were all trying damn hard not to say, and that bitter irony twisted in my gut because Rocky had said the same damn thing to me.
“So that’s it, then?” I looked around at my friends, my brothers, and they all looked sorry. “I’m not going to let him take her prisoner and definitely not with my kid!”
“Maybe your kid,” Savior clarified. “For all you know she just figured you were the perfect guy to protect her and a fake pregnancy would make you more eager to help.”
“There’s still a big damn chance it’s mine. You’d leave your kid to that fate? You think that shit is right?”
Savior shrugged. “Yo man, it ain’t about right and wrong. It’s about war. Bloody fucking war, man. All for some chick none of us know at all. Risking our lives, the club, for a fucking stranger?” He shrugged again, his gaze deadly serious. “It’s us or it’s her and I’m choosing the Reckless Bastards every goddamn day of the week, twice on Sunday.”
My throat constricted and acid made my gut turn over as reality settled over me like a hot, suffocating blanket. “Everyone agrees with him?” A few of them, Max and Golden Boy, nodded because they didn’t want their women caught in the crossfire of a war. Others just looked away, unable to even look me in the fucking face.
Fucking cowards.
I shook my head, disappointment and anger boiling inside me. I’d gone to bat for every one of these fuckers, put my life on the line. Hell, my soul, too, with the shit I’ve done. And they weren’t even willing to consider helping me. Or my damn kid.
Suddenly I had to get out of there before I said something I wouldn’t be able to take back. Hell, the way I felt then, I might not want to take that shit back. So I stood and my feet got to moving, putting more and more distance between me and them. Of all the things I’d expected on my way to the clubhouse, this wasn’t even on my list of possibilities.
For the first fucking time since I put Rose Petal and the expectations that came with that huge plot of land behind me, I was on my own. What a sick, twisted fucking irony.
“What aren’t you saying?” Max’s deep voice stopped me, but I didn’t turn around. I couldn’t fucking look at him.
“Nothing, man. Don’t even worry about it.” I kept moving, walking toward my bike and backing it out of the spot, waiting for Max to speak. “Spit it out, Max.”
“You know, if she was your girl—”
“Yeah,” I cut him off and held up my hands. “I fucking heard it the first time.” I understood the need for caution. Reckless Bastards hadn’t gone to war with another club for years, but that didn’t mean not protecting Rocky and the baby would be okay. It wouldn’t.
Max sighed and stepped in front of my bike with his massive arms crossed over his wide chest. “I know there’s something you’re not saying man, so just spill it.”
“Nothing to say. Not that it would matter anyway, right? Club can’t have war. End of conversation,” I shouted over the sound of the engine starting, grabbed the handles and swerved around him, taking off out of the clubhouse parking lot. Away from my brothers in arms, my family.
I needed space and time and distance. There was only one thing I needed when my mind was so muddled like it was now, letting my bike stretch her legs on the open road. After about twenty miles, the white noise left. At thirty-five miles, a bit of clarity came.
At the fifty-mile mark, it became crystal clear.
If my brothers weren’t going to help me, I’d have to do it myself.
Chapter 5
Rocky
“Fucking piece of shit!” Genesis figured if he couldn’t get to me in real life, he would fuck with me through my online store, placing order after order with ominous messages on them. They were all some variation of the “mine” theme he was going with. You’re mine or just the more threatening Mine. Embroidered, hand-stitched, knitted or crocheted, he requested it all.
And I did what any businesswoman in her right mind would, I canceled the orders and refunded his money because I knew exactly what the rat bastard was up to. He thought he could trace me, knowing I’d never complete his order. But what he didn’t know or perhaps didn’t realize, was that I’d learned a lot in the sixteen months since I’d called him my boyfriend, and one of the things I’d learned early on was that a virtual private network meant no one, not even Genesis, could track me online.
“Ma’am, are you all right?”
I looked up at the pretty middle-aged librarian who smiled at me with concern in her violet eyes. “I am, thank you. Just a client with unreasonable demands. I’ll keep it down.” I probably wouldn’t keep it down, because Genesis had wasted hours of my time sifting through his phony orders and the air conditioning in the library could use a serious upgrade. “Sorry.”
“No problem. Thank you for your patronage.”
That pulled a smile from me. “I actually have a box of books from a recent move. Would you be interested in them?”
Her smile lit up as she gave me information on donating books to the Mayhem Public Library and it was just enough to make me forget about my own life. For a minute, anyway.
I gave a friendly wave and made my way back to the Blazer and groaned as the leather seats singed my skin. It was too damn hot in the desert and I knew that wherever I moved next, it wouldn’t be a place that was all heat and no wind. I was forced to do the one thing I didn’t want to, go back to Lasso’s house, even though he wasn’t home yet. I hated to do it, but it had to be done, so I made a compromise with myself. I stayed on the sofa with my laptop and a giant plastic case of beads and worked until my fingers and my back ached and sweat dripped down my neck.
Eventually hunger called and roused myself from the sofa to make something to eat. I just hoped like hell I would be able to keep it down. Yesterday I’d gone grocery shopping, so I pulled out mahi-mahi, asparagus and mashed potatoes from the refrigerator and forty minutes later dinner was almost ready and still no nausea in sight.
“Thank all the goddesses in the sky!” I whispered as I wiped down the counter.
“Interesting.” Lasso’s deep voice sc
ared the shit out of me.
“What the hell?” My heart thudded so loud and so hard, I had to catch my breath. “Stop doing that.”
He smirked. “Aren’t you supposed to be keeping an eye out for bad guys?”
He was right of course, the bastard. “Yeah, well, silly me, I thought I was safe here.” That wasn’t fair, of course, but I didn’t give a damn. I shook off my annoyance and piled the fish on a plate and put it on the table with the rest of the food. “There’s enough for two if you’re hungry and don’t worry, I bought this myself.” He hadn’t said anything yet, but I knew he didn’t want me here and I was determined not to be a burden.
“I wasn’t worried. And I told you to stop this crazy shit, leaving while I’m gone. It’s fucking stupid.”
I gave him a cold stare and took a seat before I served myself. “Your opinion,” I said and then started to eat, slowly in case the baby decided he or she was no longer hungry.
“You look upset, want to talk about it?”
“Nope.” Genesis was a problem I couldn’t avoid, but my disappearance had given me time to come up with a foolproof plan. “You?”
“Not even a little.”
“Great.” I stared at him for a long moment and he stared back at me, our eyes connected the way they had when he was buried deep, plowing me to an indescribable pleasure I’d never felt before. But that was Dallas, a handsome, charming and gorgeous man who’d stepped in to help me. It wasn’t Lasso, a hardened, cold biker who was grumpy and didn’t want me around.
I preferred Dallas, but I was grateful for Lasso because he was the alphahole who’d make it easy for me to walk away in a few days.
***
MINE FOREVER. Fuck. It was another message from Genesis, disguised as an order for an oversized blanket this time and this time I had a decision to make. I needed to decide if I would pull the trigger on the only viable plan that had come together over the past week. A new identity, a new look and a new town. It’d have to be far from here just to make sure I didn’t accidentally run into anyone I knew. And it meant saying goodbye to the few friends like Kody I’d made over the years.
Fucking Genesis. He was determined to ruin my life if he couldn’t be part of it or benefit from it. Asshole.
The idea of erasing myself completely didn’t sit well with me, but then again, I didn’t have much in this life to hang on to anyway. And this was the only option that didn’t end ten or twenty years later, with me right where Genesis wanted me. I just needed to let the idea sit another day before I decided what to do. I shut down my computer and lay back on the Adirondack chaise that I’d rescued from the shed behind the garage.
“We’re going out to eat. Get dressed.” Lasso stood tall, casting a long shadow over me.
I stared up at him with a blank look, amazed a man so large was able to move so quietly and pissed that he thought he could order me around. “Was that an invitation? Because it needs work.”
“It’s not an invitation. We both need to eat and this tiptoeing around each other like something is gonna break isn’t going to work.” Arms crossed, he looked determined.
That was his problem, not mine. “You don’t need to tiptoe around, Lasso, this is your home.”
“Maybe, but right now it’s our house and it’s damned uncomfortable.”
I nodded my head because he was right. Those rare occasions we were here together were tense and silent. Uncomfortable, as he said. “This is your home Lasso and you’ve been kind enough to let me stay. I really appreciate that. But, I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.”
It wasn’t ideal since I’d already given myself a deadline to put a plan into action, but I could probably find a sublet that wouldn’t require me to use a credit card or my social security number.
“Goddammit Rocky, you are the most infuriating woman I have ever met!” He raked both hands through his thick blond hair, blowing out a long, pissed off breath as he began to pace the porch behind me. “I’m not asking you to leave.”
“You didn’t have to,” I reminded him. “I was always going to leave.”
“Where will you go?” He stopped and dropped down beside me, looking at me with concern.
“I haven’t decided yet, but once I’m gone, Lasso, that’s it. You won’t see me, see us, ever again.” I stared at him for a long time to make sure he understood what I was saying to him.
Those blue eyes that most often were the color of the sky, darkened to midnight blue as he unfolded his big body until he stood, towering over me once again. Trying to intimidate me. “Don’t fucking play games with me, Rocky. I won’t be manipulated or guilted into a damn thing.”
I was surprised by his outburst, but it helped my decision. “Good to know.” Standing, I stretched my aching back and now that Lasso was here, I went inside and closed myself up in the guest bedroom, stripped down and settled down for a nap.
A minute later, Lasso burst in, burning with anger. “What the fuck is your problem?”
I pulled the covers up to my neck and sat up on the bed with a sigh. “You, apparently. What’s wrong now, Lasso? I’m leaving. I’ll be out of your hair soon. Your life can go back to the way it was and yet you’re still unhappy. Do you want me to terminate the pregnancy, is that what all of this is?”
He wouldn’t be the first guy to go a little crazy at the thought of impending fatherhood, and he certainly wouldn’t be the first to pressure a chick into ending a pregnancy.
“What? No! Why would you even ask me that?” His chest heaved, his skin was flushed, and I must’ve been a sick and twisted bitch, because I was instantly turned on. Wet and ready for another night with Lasso before I never saw him again.
My brows arched at his question. “Fine, Lasso. Tell me how I’m the bad guy now.”
“What the hell do you mean I won’t see you or my kid again?” I could see the rest of the words perched on the edge of his mouth. If it really is my kid. He wanted to say it, but good manners wouldn’t allow it.
“What do you think it means? The only chance I have to survive this is to disappear completely.”
He frowned, the grooves between his brows growing deeper with every passing second. “I don’t like it.”
So much for a late afternoon nap.
“Turn around,” I said.
“What the fuck for?”
“I’m not going to stay in this bed all day and I don’t have any clothes on. Now turn the fuck around.”
He did, making sure I saw a little smirk around the corners of his mouth first.
I slid off the bed and grabbed a long, peach colored dress. It was gauzy enough that I wouldn’t pass out from the heat and it was nice enough I could go wherever I wanted and right now, I just wanted peace.
“I’m not asking you to like it. You don’t want me here anyway and soon, I won’t be your problem,” I said as I slipped the dress over my head. When I was dressed I tried to push past him, but Lasso held a tight grip to my arm.
“I never said I didn’t want you here.”
“You didn’t have to,” I told him and tried again to yank from his grasp. “Let me go.”
“No. We need to talk about this plan of yours.”
“No, we don’t. It’s my life and my plan. I asked you for a place to lay low, that’s it. I already have one asshole trying to run my life, I’m not in the market for another.” With those evil words, his hand released me.
“That’s what you think of me?”
I didn’t answer him, I was too angry to even deal with him. I walked into the living room and plopped on the couch, I could barely slide my feet into my gladiator sandals because my hands shook so badly. When I finally got them on, I stood and found myself face to broad chest with Lasso. “I don’t think anything of you, Lasso. I don’t know you, but I am grateful for the help. Now if you don’t mind, I have some things to do.”
“Actually, I do mind.” Both hands wrapped around my arms and pulled me close. “No one tells me what to do yet every
time I turn around, you’re trying to tell me how it’s gonna be.”
“That’s what happens when a woman has a brain. She doesn’t need some man to come in and fix her life.”
He growled at me, an honest to goodness fucking growl. It was hot and bossy and alpha, and it shouldn’t have turned me on as much as it did. But before I could think about what that said about me, his lips were on mine in a fevered, frenzied kiss that had no start or end to it, just a long simmering heat that had finally exploded.
One minute we were fighting, arguing about life and death, and the next we were kissing each other like it was the only thing giving us life. His hands gripped my ass and lifted me in the air, my legs automatically wrapping around him as though they remembered exactly what to do. His body was big and commanding, hard as steel as he moved in closer. The heat between us grew by degrees with every pass of his tongue over mine, every sweep of my hand through his hair.
“Dallas,” I moaned in his ear as his mouth skidded down my neck and across my collarbone.
“Fuck, Rocky,” he groaned when one hand left my ass and slid around to rub along the wet spot between my legs. “You’re already wet for me.”
He was right, I was. I ached to have him buried deep in me again, thrusting and pushing into me over and over, pushing me farther than I ever thought I could go. Giving me more pleasure than any man ever had.
“What are you gonna do about it?”
His grin turned dark and playful as he slipped a finger into me without any hesitation. He didn’t play or tease, just slid deep until I felt my body clench around him. “Fuck, you’re so tight.” His words were guttural, intense and he looked ready to snap.
Good, that was just what I wanted. I knew it was just what I needed to happen before we said goodbye. “It’ll be even tighter wrapped around you.” My whispered words made him shiver and he thrust harder and faster, determined to wring an orgasm out of me before he gave in and slipped me his cock.
