by Nicole James
She squealed and struggled to break free, laughing.
“Settle down. I’m kidding.”
Crash lifted his glass to his mouth, but spoke right before he downed the last of his drink. “She’d like it too much, anyway.”
Crystal threw her dishrag at him, hitting him in the face. “Shut-up!”
Both men laughed, but then Cole tightened his hold, squeezing the hand at her waist, his voice turning serious. “You doin’ okay? Wolf been giving you anymore problems?”
Her smile faded at the reminder of the man who held her heart, yet continually broke it. A man she’d fallen for the minute she’d first laid eyes on him. The energy in the room would change when he’d walk in. At least for her it would. But Wolf wasn’t looking for an ol’ lady no matter how strong the connection was between them or how good the sex was between them. He’d made that clear from the beginning. And she’d had to come to terms with it. Any relationship they’d ever had, had always been on his terms.
Wolf had a bossy, demanding, not-to-be-denied way about him that drew her like honey.
But Wolf was also a flirt who could woo and coax whatever he wanted from her. One minute the sweet-talking, cajoling charmer, who could lure, tempt, entice, and persuade his way to anything he wanted. And the next minute, the bossy, demanding badass, who didn’t hesitate in claiming, commanding, and exacting what he wanted, not asking—just taking.
It was the contradictions of these complexities of the man that kept her on her toes.
And then had come the night several months ago when he’d rubbed his latest stripper in her face and she’d attempted to make him jealous with Shane. She’d definitely gotten a reaction out of Wolf that night, just not exactly the one she’d been going for. After the men had stopped the fight that had broken out between Wolf and Shane, Mack and Cole had ordered Wolf to ‘cut her loose’.
“Crystal?” Cole nudged her out of her thoughts.
She focused back on his face, remembering his question. “No. Everything’s fine.”
“Fine, huh?”
She looked away. She could never get anything past Cole.
“You steer clear of him.”
She nodded, but her expression must have given away the sadness that seeped into her with every mention of Wolf, because she felt Cole’s hand pat her thigh.
“Consider it tough love, babe.”
“I know.”
Cole’s brows rose. “And stay away from our new prospect, Shane. At least until he gets his patch.” He grinned, softening his order. “Then you can have at him.”
Crystal rolled her eyes. He was trying to get a smile, and she rewarded him with one.
Crash stood. “Well, I’m heading home to my ol’ lady. Give me a hug, doll.”
Crystal stood up and moved into his embrace. Crash wrapped his arms around her and rocked her from side to side, murmuring against the top of her head, “You deserve to be happy, Crystal. If Wolf’s not gonna step up for you, you need to let it go.”
She nodded against his chest.
He kissed the top of her head, gave her a final squeeze, and then released her.
She moved off to the old jukebox across the room and distracted herself from all thoughts of Wolf by searching through the songs for some music to listen to while she mopped.
****
Cole watched Crash look over his shoulder at Crystal, before his eyes returned to him. “I don’t think she’s lettin’ go.”
Cole blew out a frustrated breath. “I don’t think either of them are. And that’s gonna end badly, ‘cause one of them is going to end up having to leave. And we all know it’s not gonna be Wolf.”
“Man that sucks. I like Crystal.”
“We all do.”
“Well, I’m takin’ off.”
“Set your alarm. We got business to take care of in the morning.”
Crash grinned. “Why set my alarm when I can just wait until someone texts me ‘Where the hell are you?’”
Cole shook his head. “Get out of here, Brother.”
As Crash walked out, Cole’s gaze returned to Crystal. Wolf had left about an hour ago, and Cole had a sneaking suspicion where he’d gone.
Fuck, he hoped he wasn’t right.
****
Crystal stood with her head dipped, her face illuminated by the glow of the jukebox. She flipped through the choices, but her eyes didn’t see the song titles. Instead, her mind drifted back to the first night she’d ever laid eyes on Wolf. The first time she’d ever even been on Dead property...
Six years ago…
Crystal was standing at the stove stirring the goulash in the skillet that she’d made for dinner when the backdoor opened, and her man walked in. She turned to look, her eyes sweeping over him. His jeans and tee shirt were stained with grease, and his hands were almost black. Jason had converted the three car garage out back into an automotive repair business. He was good at it, a real gearhead.
He moved to the sink and hit the pump on the industrial strength orange hand cleaner, then he began soaping his arms to the elbows. He sniffed the air.
“Goulash again?”
“Yes, Jason, goulash, again. Our grocery budget is pretty tight this month. You know tips down at the bar have been shit lately.” Crystal bartended part time at a dive bar a few blocks from where they lived.
“Maybe it’s your attitude.” He looked over at her.
She gave him a death look and slammed the wooden spoon against the pan.
“Go get cleaned up. We’re going out tonight.” He dipped his arms under the faucet all the way to his elbows, and then grabbed up a dishtowel.
“Out? Where?” She frowned.
“Marnie says there’s a party up at the clubhouse tonight. We’re going.”
Crystal didn’t have to ask what clubhouse he was talking about. She knew he was referring to the clubhouse that belonged to the biggest, baddest biker club in town. The Evil Dead MC. They weren’t some riding club. No, these guys were the real deal. Bikers. Outlaw bikers. The biggest club in San Jose, and one of the biggest in the state of California.
Marnie was Jason’s sister, and she’d recently started seeing one of the members. Well, not just one of the members. Marnie didn’t do anything halfway. No, she couldn’t be content with one of the brothers, she had to go after the big fish. The MC’s goddamned President.
And since Jason was tight with his sister, he had started going up there with her. He seemed to think he was really something now that he was hanging around with the Dead. And ever since then he’d started to think his shit didn’t stink.
Crystal rolled her eyes. She knew this was going to end up being nothing but trouble somehow, but hell if he’d listen to her. Up until now, Jason hadn’t taken Crystal with him when he went. Which was fine with her. She was smart enough to know better than to think those guys were anything to mess with. Hell no, count her out. But even as she thought the words, she had to confess that a part of her deep down was just a little bit curious.
Crystal wondered if Jason hadn’t brought her around there because he knew she was just enough of a smartass to say something to get them in trouble. If that was the case, he was wrong. Crystal knew when to keep her mouth shut. If either of them were likely to do the wrong thing, she knew it was Jason. But the club seemed to not mind having him around, since he’d been going up there for a few weeks now.
“I’m going with you?” she asked to clarify.
“I just said so, didn’t I?”
An hour later, they were pulling into the lot. The Evil Dead’s San Jose Chapter clubhouse was buried back in an old industrial park on the seedy side of town. It was the last place on the dead-end street, its parking lot backing up to a set of railroad tracks, ensuring total privacy. Crystal couldn’t image anyone coming down here, unless they had a reason.
As Jason parked, Crystal took in the place. It was an old two-story red brick building that had once housed some sort of manufacturing company. There we
re dirty multi-paned windows up high in the walls.
Marnie was supposed to already be here. The place was packed. Bikes, mostly. The lot was covered with them. But there were cars, too, parked off to the side of the building.
Jason parked over near the bikes, like he thought he was something special. Like just the fact that his sister was their President’s current pussy was supposed to get him special privileges.
They climbed out of the car, made their way inside and fought through the crowd of people, working their way to the bar.
Crystal stuck close to Jason’s back, her eyes taking in the place. They’d walked into a big room with a high ceiling. The place definitely had an industrial feel with brick walls and grimy multi-paned windows set up near the ceiling. There were pool tables off to the left and hard rock music was blaring. Jason led her through a sea of black leather vests, all with the three piece patches on the back proclaiming the wearer as a member of the MC.
She noticed the men’s eyes touch on Jason, and then slide past him to land on her. None of them welcomed him or smiled. The most he got was a nod, but several, she noticed, shook their heads after he’d past as if he was a loser not worth their time. But it wasn’t so much the looks they gave Jason that worried her as it was the looks they gave her. They were intense, hungry, filled with more than a little interest, and these men didn’t have any problem letting her see it.
She and Jason made it to the bar on the right and sidled up to Marnie, who had a place of honor on one of the few barstools.
Marnie turned when she saw them and Jason leaned down, his head dipping to hear her as she grabbed a handful of his shirt and pulled him close. Whatever she yelled to Jason, Crystal couldn’t hear it over the blasting music. She let her eyes move to the man sitting next to Marnie with his hand on her thigh and his other holding a beer. He was older. Crystal figured he was maybe in his forties, which put him quite a bit older than Marnie, who Crystal knew was only a couple years older than Crystal’s age, which was twenty-two.
She studied him. His dark hair was graying at the temples, but he was still a very attractive man. Power radiated off him, something Crystal knew Marnie was drawn to. Yes, she could see his appeal. But at the same time, Crystal recognized the fact that he could be a dangerous man.
Mack was his name. Crystal had heard Marnie talk about him often enough over the last few weeks. Mack this and Mack that. That’s all she’d talked about.
Crystal watched him raise his beer bottle, and then pause for a moment with it half way to his mouth as his eyes connected with hers. She felt a chill run over her skin as she looked into those eyes. Yes, he was definitely not someone to mess with. Breaking eyes contact with her, he waved two fingers at the guy behind the bar and then nodded his head toward her and Jason. A moment later, two bottles of beer were being set before them.
Crystal’s eyes connected with his again, and she mouthed the words, “Thank you.”
He winked at her, and then turned and began speaking to the guy next to him.
A couple of hours later, the party was getting wild, Marnie was getting drunk and loud, and Crystal was starting to get a headache. She made her way through the crowd to a filthy bathroom down the hall. She splashed some water on her face and looked in the small cracked mirror above the grimy sink. She was long past ready to go, but she knew Jason wasn’t anywhere near ready to leave yet.
She’d seen a side of him tonight she’d never seen before. And she didn’t like it. She’d also seen the looks the members gave him. And she could see in their expressions that they put up with him because Mack was with his sister. And that was the only reason they didn’t run his ass off the property. She was amazed Jason didn’t see it. Maybe he did. Or more likely he was so caught up in thinking he was really something, hanging with the big dogs. And she imagined somewhere in his mind, he may even be entertaining thoughts of actually becoming a member one day. If he did, those thoughts were delusional. This bunch would never really let him in. They’d tolerate him as a hang-around, but he’d never be prospect material. Even she could see that.
Yes, she could read all of that on this very first night she’d come up here.
They’d partied and had a good time tonight, but Crystal had a feeling it would be the last time she’d ever attend one of these parties. Jason had been acting like a know-it-all ass all night. And for the first time, she was embarrassed to be with him.
Slinging her leather shoulder bag on the edge of the sink, she began rummaging through it until she dug out a small bottle of aspirin. She shook out a couple of tablets and popped them in her mouth. Then she cupped her hand under the faucet and brought it to her mouth to chase the pills down.
Twisting the cap back on the bottle, she jammed it back in her bag and took out a lip gloss to quickly swipe some on. When she was through, she checked her look in the mirror, fiddled with her hair a bit and turned toward the door. As she headed down the hall and back into the big room, she immediately knew something was different. Half the guys were shoving out of the front door. Glancing over to the end of the bar, where they’d been standing, she noticed the stools were now empty and there was broken glass all over the floor.
What the hell had happened?
Crystal made her way out the front door as well. She pushed through the crowd and out to the parking lot where she found Jason, Marnie, Mack and half the club.
Marnie was shouting at Mack.
“You’re being an ass.”
Mack was ordering her brother off the property. And according to him, Marnie was welcome to ‘take her bitchy ass with him’.
The next thing Crystal knew, Jason was driving off the lot with Marnie in the rebuilt ’78 black corvette that he and Crystal had arrived in.
As she stood there, staring after the car, she’d wondered how the hell she was going to get home. The asshole had just left her there. And in a way, she was glad.
Turning, she walked back into the clubhouse and returned to the spot they’d been occupying at the end of the bar. She needed to get her jacket, which she’d left there. As she gathered it up, she looked down at the broken glass, where the tussle had obviously started. Grabbing a waste basket from behind the bar, she bent and began picking up the broken pieces, completely embarrassed that she was even connected with those two.
A few moments later, a pair of boots appeared in her peripheral vision. She turned her head, her eyes following up the legs to look up at the man who stood over her. Her eyes took in the leather cut and then his face. Good God, but he was gorgeous. He had dark hair and a beard and the sexiest brown eyes she’d ever seen. He was intimidating as hell with the stern look on his face as he stared down at her a long moment. Then as Crystal knelt there, stupidly mute, the stern look faded and his warm brown eyes crinkled at the corner as he smiled, revealing gorgeous white teeth.
“You don’t have to do that, darlin’. That’s what we’ve got prospects for.” His eyes cut over her head to the man behind the bar, who turned his palms up and shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t have a clue why she was down on her knees.
Before she could respond, Mack appeared at the man’s side, also staring down at her.
She looked up at him and apologized, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. “I’m so sorry. We were guests here. That shouldn’t have happened.”
She wasn’t even sure what she was apologizing for, since she wasn’t even sure what actually had happened. She supposed she was just apologizing for Jason being a jerk.
Mack put it more bluntly.
“You’re man’s a dick.”
She nodded. After tonight, she couldn’t help but agree with him. “I’m beginning to see that.”
“Why the hell are you with him?” the other man asked.
“I’m starting to wonder that myself,” she murmured. “It’s becoming apparent he’s just a braggart and a jerk.”
“You’re the only one out of the three that gave a shit enough to apologize. And you
didn’t even do anything,” Mack noted.
“I’m so embarrassed they acted like that.”
Mack nodded. “Thanks for caring enough to do that,” he’d lifted his chin to the waste basket in her hand, “but that’s not your responsibility.”
Crystal looked down at the glass remaining on the floor. “Still. I feel bad. Let me at least pick up the glass.”
Mack studied her with a frown, as if he didn’t understand her logic at all. Then he’d shocked her by caring enough to say, “Since your ride left without you, Wolf will take you home.”
Then he’d turned and walked off.
She looked up at the man he’d called Wolf. He nodded to Mack, and then his eyes dropped to her. He offered her his hand. “Come on, darlin’.”
She put her hand in his, and he helped her up, their eyes holding. Then he turned and led her out to his bike.
“What’s your name?” he asked as he handed her his helmet to put on. Up until that point, Crystal had never even been on a bike before. She took the helmet and strapped it on. “Crystal.”
He nodded. “You live with Jason?”
“I did. Probably not after tonight.”
“You got a place you can stay tonight? A girlfriend or family?”
She nodded. “A girlfriend.”
He ended up taking her to Jason’s place so she could pack a quick bag. Luckily Jason wasn’t there, so she hadn’t had to run into him. When she came back out, Wolf had glanced around. “You got a car?”
“Yes. Jason’s driving it.”
He whistled and asked in an impressed voice, “That ‘vette’s yours?”
She smiled. “He rebuilt it for me for a birthday present. Jason’s kind of a gearhead.”
Wolf nodded. “He give you the title?”
And Crystal’s stomach had sunk. Actually, he hadn’t. “No.”
He nodded, and then let the subject drop. “Climb on, cupcake.”
He took her to her friend’s apartment.
When he dropped her off, she thought she’d never see him again. But the next morning he pulled up driving her ‘vette. One of his club brothers pulled up behind him in an old pickup truck. When she came outside, Wolf climbed out of the driver’s side.
