Burning Desires (Blue Bandits MC Book 4)

by Michelle Woods

  Chapter Two

  Kelsey woke to a pounding on her door. Lying on the bed, she moaned. Ugg, that must be Greta or Hanna. No one else would be pounding on her door at ten thirty in the morning. Letting out a little huff of annoyance, she rose from the bed. Walking to the dresser she grabbed a pair of shorts, slipping them on.

  Two days ago, Hammer had called to ask her to go to a bonfire party with him tonight. Kelsey had agreed which was likely why one or both of her sisters were at her door. She wanted to growl in frustration.

  When she’d told them she couldn’t work tonight, they’d demanded to know why. She’d told them she had a date and when they wouldn’t stop asking her question after question she’d finally told them where she was going and with whom. It had not gotten better after that. Greta had freaked, commanding her to call him and cancel.

  Ha, as if!

  She was not canceling her date because her sisters didn’t like the fact that she was going out with a Blue Bandit. Exiting her bedroom and walking towards the door, she felt her head pound when the banging started up again. Gritting her teeth, she stomped to the door, her hand snatching it open, her glare directed at Greta who stood on her doorstep.

  “What do you want?” Kelsey asked snidely, her hand holding the door open but blocking Greta from entering.

  “Why are you being so difficult?” Greta snapped back, her glare just as hot as Kelsey’s.

  “Because you have no business treating me like I’m twelve,” she told her sister before stepping back, headed to the kitchen to get some coffee.

  Err––she really hated having to fight with Greta. Hanna was at least halfway reasonable, but Greta was like a mule and she never listened.

  Entering the little kitchen, she walked to the counter hitting the button on the coffeemaker to make herself some coffee. She had a feeling she was going to need it in order to deal with this conversation.

  “I know you’re not twelve, Kelsey, but that doesn’t mean I think you dating a biker is a good idea,” Greta told her as she entered the kitchen, sitting down at the table along one wall. “Grab me a cup too,” she said when Kelsey poured coffee into her mug.

  Kelsey wanted to growl and refuse because her sister was a pain in the ass. Instead she grabbed another mug and filled it, then carried them both to the table, giving one to Greta before sitting down across from her. Taking a long sip of the coffee, she let out a blissful sigh. She loved the thick rich taste of the expensive fresh grounds she ordered from over in Red Devils territory.

  “You didn’t grab the cream?” Greta asked, a frown on her face.

  “You know where it’s at, Greta, get it yourself. I don’t know why you insist on ruining perfectly good coffee with that stuff anyway.” Kelsey wrinkled her nose because adding anything to coffee this good was a travesty. Greta grunted, standing up to grab the cream from the fridge before taking her seat again. She poured a ton of cream into her coffee, making Kelsey cringe a second time because that was just nasty.

  “You’re really cranky this morning, aren’t you?” Greta commented.

  “Yes, I am. I wonder why? It couldn’t be that my sister decided to wake me by banging my door down when I have only had about four hours of sleep, now could it?”

  “Oh, stop. How was I to know you hadn’t slept last night? You weren’t working.” Greta sipped her cream while glaring at Kelsey over the top of her cup.

  “You know I have terrible insomnia. You should have waited till at least eleven thirty to come over here to bang on my door.” Kelsey took another sip of her coffee loving the bitter flavor as it hit her tongue.

  “Sorry, I didn’t think about it,” Greta said, her look sheepish. Kelsey knew that her sister would have waited till later if she’d thought about it before she came over but she wasn’t feeling very generous this morning so she glared at her.

  “Why are you even here, Greta?” she demanded, seeing her sister grimace.

  “You know why I’m here, Kelsey. I don’t know why you think going to this party tonight is a good idea. Bikers aren’t someone you want to mess around with, Kells.”

  Kelsey ignored her sister and carefully set down her cup, her patience wearing thin. She understood that Greta meant well but she was sticking her nose where it didn’t belong again.

  “I don’t really care what you think, Greta. I’m a grown woman and I was asked on a date and I intend to go. Nothing you say this morning is going to change my mind so this conversation is useless.” Kelsey leaned back in her chair running a hand through her light red hair, her fingers catching on a tangle making her realize she needed to brush it.

  “Why must you be so stubborn? You know that dating a biker is bad news. Are you just trying to be rebellious?” Greta asked.

  “Rebellious? Really, Greta? I thought you said you knew I wasn’t twelve,” Kelsey grumbled, her head starting to ache again and her eyes burning from lack of sleep. She hated the insomnia that kept her up to all hours. It worked well when she watched the bar but otherwise it was a pain in the ass.

  “What else am I to think, Kells? You’re going out with a biker for goodness sakes.”

  “Yes, I am and it has nothing to do with being rebellious and everything to do with the fact that he’s hot and he asked me out.” Kelsey gritted her teeth trying to hold on to her temper, which threatened to explode. She was so done with conversations like these. When would her sisters learn that she wasn’t a damned kid anymore?

  “He’s hot and he asked you out? Those are the only reasons? Kelsey, it could be dangerous. These people aren’t nice and they have a whole other type of life than we do. It’s not okay for you to moonlight in their world just because he’s hot.” Greta was leaning forward with her hands on the table, her face red and her eyes narrowed as she spit the words at Kelsey.

  “Greta, that’s utter hogwash. Yes, they’re different but I like him and he has been nothing but a gentleman the two times I’ve been around him. Just because they have different rules doesn’t mean that they’re dangerous. Besides, if you thought they were so awful why did you bargain with them to protect the club three years ago when we opened it?” She didn’t want to argue with her sister anymore over this but she really didn’t understand why she was so upset over her dating Hammer. Kelsey liked him and she wasn’t backing down from her choice to go out with him tonight.

  “We bargained with them because they were dangerous, Kelsey. That’s why I don’t want you to do something stupid. These are hardened men who end up killing people more than once a week and you want to go off with him like he’s just a fluffy teddy bear you can parade about with,” Greta practically screamed at her, standing to her feet before she began pacing in Kelsey’s small kitchen.

  “Geez, Greta, first of all most of those people are trying to kill them. Secondly, I don’t think they’re going to shoot me at a damned bonfire party. And I know he isn’t a fluffy teddy bear, he’s a man. You have to stop assuming that I am a kid in over my head. I’m a twenty-four year old woman and I can take care of myself,” Kelsey told her, realizing that her sister was so insistent because she was really scared that something bad would happen to her. It made the anger she felt over her big sisters’ interference lessen some.

  “You can’t know that for sure and there are other bad things they could do to you, Kelsey. I just want you safe.” Greta looked at her imploringly.

  “I know that, Greta, but I’m still going. I’ll be careful and if I get into trouble I will call you and Hanna or Tally to come get me. That’s the most I’m willing to give you so take it or leave it.” Kelsey sliced her hand through the air to let her sister know she was serious and crossed her arms, leaning back in the chair waiting for her sister to respond.

  Greta nodded, but she didn’t look happy about it. “All right, but I still think it’s a bad idea.”

  “I know what you think but I am going and you being a pain over it isn’t going to do any good. Let’s talk about something else. What happened at the bar y
esterday? Hanna left a message but I didn’t call her back,” Kelsey asked, trying to get them on another subject rather than end up rehashing the argument they’d just had.

  “Oh, she was talking about those three idiots who got into a bar brawl. She thought it was hilarious. I however don’t. They busted three tables and took out two of the strobe lamps. Don’t ask me how they managed that, those things are embedded in the walls and normally almost impossible to break but somehow they managed.”

  “They broke the strobes? That’s not good, those things are expensive.” Kelsey frowned, watching Greta as she sat back down with a heavy sigh.

  Her shoulders slumped as she seemed to collapse in on herself. Greta was the worrier and it showed in the way she took everything so seriously. Hanna on the other hand was a bit of a cut up and she rarely, if ever, took things seriously.

  Kelsey worried about them both for very different reasons. Kelsey wasn’t sure that Greta wouldn’t cause herself to have a heart attack from all the stressing she did over the smallest things. Hanna, on the other hand, could walk right into danger and get hurt because she never worried about anything. Kelsey didn’t know which was worse, but she didn’t give either of them a hard time about it like they did her.

  “I know, but they were hauled out by Bull and a few of the other Bandits MC members because Tally called them while I tried to break it up. Hanna thought that was funny as hell too because Bull told me that I was stupid for trying to break up a bar fight and that next time I should just call them. Can you believe that?” Greta asked, her nostrils flaring, her eyes narrowed and her fists clenched on the table.

  Kelsey couldn’t help the smile that teased at her lips because Greta hated Bull and had from the moment she met him. Kelsey wasn’t sure why but they really rubbed each other the wrong way. It was funny that Greta got so mad at him for a perfectly reasonable statement.

  “Well, honestly he wasn’t wrong. You could have been injured trying to stop them. It’s why you brokered that agreement with them in the first place,” Kelsey told her and lifted her mug before standing to walk to the sink to rinse it out.

  “I’m not going to let them destroy my bar while I wait on the Bandits to get there. They were breaking stuff and it needed to stop,” Greta growled.

  “Yes, but were you able to stop them?” she asked, turning to look at Greta who pursed her lips and crossed her arms.

  “No,” she replied, her brow furrowed.

  “Exactly, so next time he’s right, don’t try to prevent it. That’s why we made the deal with their club after all. Did they make them pay for the damages?” Kelsey asked, turning on the water to wash the mug and the plate she’d left in the sink from the night before.

  “Yes, they have a week then the Bandits will collect according to Burner.”

  “Who’s Burner?” Kelsey asked, having never heard that name before.

  “Huh, oh, he’s some new guy who showed up with Bull to break the fight up. Seems to be in charge because the others deferred to him. He’s new though, neither Hanna nor I had ever met him. He’s intense too. Scary,” Greta informed her but Greta thought nearly every man in the club was scary so Kelsey didn’t put much stock in him being frightening.

  “Gotcha. Well that’s good that they have to pay for it all because otherwise we’d have to eat the loss. That would suck cause those lamps are like six thousand credits a pop because they’re hard to find and there’s a limited supply,” Kelsey muttered.

  “Yeah, I like having the backing from them because everyone knows not to pull any bullshit because if they do, they’ll answer to the Bandits. It’s nice not to have to worry about the idiots who get drunk and do stupid shit like those three men last night.” Greta smiled at her as she set her own mug into the sink for Kelsey to wash.

  “Well why were you trying to break up the fight then?” Kelsey shook her head.

  “I don’t know, I was just trying to get them to stop breaking stuff and it took them like thirty minutes to get there because they weren’t nearby. Then Bull was being an asshole as usual so, you know.” Greta shrugged as she leaned on the counter beside her.

  “Greta, sometimes you aren’t very logical, you know that, right?” Kelsey asked, snorting out a laugh.

  “Yeah, well neither are you. Going out with a biker,” Greta shot back, her arms crossing and her body tensed.

  “Not that again. Stop, just stop.”

  “Fine, but you brought that one on yourself,” Greta complained.

  “Yeah, I know,” Kelsey sighed, as the two of them started to chat about what they would do about the broken strobes until they could be ordered. They’d have to find another lighting source or that part of the club would be too dark.

  Chapter Three

  Burner stared at the ceiling watching the early morning light play across it, ignoring the sweetbutt who slept beside him. He should have kicked her out last night but he’d been drunker than shit and he’d passed out after fucking her. Hell, now he’d have to deal with all the morning after bullshit and she’d likely want him to screw her again. His cock twitched lifting the sheet slightly, letting him know it was on board with that idea, but Burner knew it wasn’t a good idea. She’d already been clingy last night from what he could remember through his beer haze.

  He needed to quit drinking so much, it was really starting to become a problem. He’d downed way too many drinks after breaking up that bar fight at Tricky Bitches last night. For some reason, after the fight his head had been spinning with what he’d seen while with the Headhunters. It had brought him way too close to thinking about all the bad shit he allowed to happen while he was with them.

  He remembered the faces of the women he didn’t save and he still heard their screams and the pleas, dear God, the pleas. Burner wanted to go back in time and do something about those bastard Headhunters, to stop all that bad shit from happening. He couldn’t even consider himself a man after watching the women being raped or beaten right in front of him like it didn’t matter.

  He was a fucking monster.

  It had killed him to pretend that the horrible things happening in front of him had amused him. Those women’s faces were all he saw most days and the pleas burned in his ears and he’d swear that sometimes he could hear them screaming. He’d refused to watch most of the time and he’d let some go if it wouldn’t get him caught. He also rescued one or two by taking them to his room, but it wasn’t enough and he knew it.

  Saving those few had been the only thing he could do without giving himself away and so he’d done what he could and let the rest ride. He’d taken the younger ones most of the time, trying to prevent their rapes as often as he could. Most of them were confused when he told them to scream like he was hurting them and even more confused when he’d fed them and let them sleep in his bed alone without touching them but not a single one had told on him. He still felt that he should have done something even if it did blow his cover because it was wrong.

  Burner lifted his hand rubbing his face, trying hard to shunt those thoughts away because it still fucked with his head. He couldn’t get past it; even almost a year later his head was still filled with all this shit. Some nights it was like an instant replay in his head swirling around like fog battering against his brain like a wave.

  He pulled his hand from his eyes, looking again at the ceiling above him. He was staring up, still trying to make the visions go back in the box where he usually tried to pin them down, when he noticed a spider crawling across the ceiling. He watched as the spider crawled, slowly heading towards the door of his room. Currently it was hovering over his chest. He should really get up and kill that fucking thing before it decided to crawl into his bed. It would be just his luck to wake up in an hour and find that the little fucker had bitten him on the balls. Karma was a bitch and she didn’t fuck around when she decided it was time to pay up. He watched it crawl a few more inches before it stopped and looked at him.

  Okay, so maybe that was just his imagi
nation but fuck, spiders were creepy. All those legs and fangs to boot and some of them caused massive infections and shit. Call him a wuss but he didn’t like the damned things. All he could think about suddenly was it biting him on the balls. He reached down adjusting said balls, trying not to think about it because it creeped him out. Yep, he needed to get up and kill the little bastard.

  The sweetbutt beside him, whose name he didn’t even remember, stirred, her arm falling over his chest. He turned looking at her, hoping that she wasn’t clingy this morning, watching as she let out a little grunt but didn’t wake. Then he glanced up and almost had a freaking heart attack because he didn’t see the little fucker anymore. It took him a minute to find him and Burner let out a sigh of relief because it had just moved closer to the door.

  His eyes now glued to the dot on the ceiling, he felt his pounding heart begin to settle in his chest. He really needed to get up but he wasn’t really in the mood to move and wake up the woman beside him.

  Fuck, this was a dilemma.

  Maybe it served him right to get bitten on the nuts by a fucking spider after all the shit he’d been involved in. Unfortunately his sense of self-preservation was stronger than that thought and he found himself rising from the bed and grabbing his boot off the floor. He stepped a few steps and threw the shoe at the spider.

  It hit near it with a loud bang and he jumped back because he’d missed and now that fucker was spinning web from his ass likely trying to come after him and he didn’t want to be under that damned thing when it dropped.

  “What the hell? What are you doing?” the woman in his bed cried, sitting up with the sheet around her waist and her impressive D cup tits bared. He couldn’t help getting distracted by those globes, forgetting what he was doing as his cock rose in appreciation. Then his brain kicked in and he turned back, looking desperately for the spider.