Smolder: Trojans MC

by Kara Parker

  “Except that you are suspended and had no right to do this investigation,” the captain said, her eyes focused on Olivia.

  “I was suspended by my partner, who everyone knows is a bad cop and who I personally saw taking a bribe. I saw it, Captain. I can only imagine how big it was for Lance to accept it. Just on the elevator ride up Rick offered me hundreds of thousands of dollars to let him go. He’s running a good business and cash flow doesn’t seem to be a problem,” Olivia said.

  The captain brought her hands up to the table as she thought about it. Olivia and Detective Farraday leaned forward in their seats, both wanting desperately to hear what she had to say.

  “Get the warrant. Have detective Evans begin to question Rick—”

  “He wants a lawyer,” Farraday cut in.

  “Then get him one, and get me someone from internal affairs. I want a full investigation into Officer Townsend. Search his house and his bank records; let’s see if a large sum of money turns up. You’re dismissed, Detective Farraday,” the captain said. However, as she spoke, her eyes never left Olivia’s. As Farraday left, she closed the door behind her and Olivia and the captain were left alone.

  “I told you not to investigate on your own. I told you it was bad police work,” the captain said.

  “I know,” Olivia said quietly, looking at her hands, “but David was kidnapped after you suspended me. I couldn’t not look for him. I needed to make sure he was ok, and then all the rest...happened.”

  “David Creely, a known felon and a member of motorcycle gang. Can you tell me the nature of your relationship with Mr. Creely?”

  Olivia let out a little laugh and threw her hands in the air. How could she explain what she and David had? They had gone from antagonists to a one-stand stand to enemies and then to whatever they were now. It had happened too quickly and amidst too much chaos, but despite her better judgment, Olivia had fallen in love with David. It wasn’t the danger that she was attracted to; it was the exact opposite. It was that David was strong and resolute in his principles; he was hardworking and driven. He was amazing, and Olivia, quite suddenly, couldn't imagine her life without him in it.

  “Was...Is your relationship with him sexual?” the captain asked.

  “Yes, but it’s more than that. I think I might love him.”

  “You think?”

  “Well, I haven't told him that yet. So maybe I should do that before I go running all over town with the information,” Olivia said. She never thought that she would ever have to sit in a room with her captain to discuss her love life.

  “Do you really think that’s sustainable?” the captain said. Her inflection wasn’t cruel or mocking. It was straightforward; she was presenting the evidence for Olivia to decide. A cop and a biker, how could Olivia ever hope for such a thing to work?

  “I don’t know if it’s sustainable. But I know there’s only one way to find out. And I know who I am, I’m a good cop, and there’s nothing that could ever change that. Not even David. I love him, but I am still me, even when I’m with him.”

  CHAPTER FOURTY ONE

  No one in the room knew what to do. They had all convinced themselves that David was the bad guy and that he was the reason the cops had raided their club. Now, they were faced with the reality that David had not been the enemy. He had saved them, but he had snuck around with a cop to do it. There were too many contradictions, sides needed to be chosen, and no one knew whom to trust.

  Mike sat on the faded green couch, his hands resting on his belly. He didn’t look like a man in charge; he looked like another member contemplating their future.

  “You worked with a cop,” one of the brothers finally said. “How could you do that? You showed her our safe houses. What other secrets did you tell her?”

  “Look, I knew that Rick was guilty, but I couldn’t take him down myself, and it’s not like any of you were lining up to help me. None of you were even speaking to me, would you really have helped? She was with me; we were out late at night following Rick and watching him. She put in a lot of hours and wasn’t looking for anything for herself.” No one spoke; they looked between each other, but they each knew the truth of David’s words.

  “But you’re done with her now, right David? She’s pretty, but there are plenty of pretty girls in the world.”

  David ran his hands through his short hair and stared at the window. Was he done with Olivia? Of course not. But he didn’t know how to explain this to them. Olivia was not a thing that he could just pick up and put down when he felt like it. She was a living, breathing person, with her own life and her own personality. Being done with Olivia, tossing her aside, would have been like lopping off his arm and leaving it in the desert. Why would he ever do such a thing? If David left Olivia, he knew that he would spend his entire life missing her. He would always want her, always want to be with her. He would always regret his decision to leave her behind.

  The silence hung heavy in the room. Everyone was waiting for David to speak, to say that yeah Olivia was pretty, but not pretty enough to tempt him away from the Reapers. Then, they would all laugh and pat each other on the back and open a beer...and then what? No, he couldn’t do that, it would be a lie. Besides, Olivia had done more for the Reapers then most of the men here.

  “I’m not done with her,” David said, turning back to the group of Reapers that were all around him. He was no longer the teenager who had to fight tooth and nail for full membership; he was no longer the guy who was responsible for all of them being in jail. No, David was his own man now. He needed to make his own decisions and live his own life. David had saved the Reapers, and he had done it with Olivia’s help, how could he possible end things with her?

  “Look man,” one of the Reapers said, “we get it. You were out on your own, and you needed help, but we’re with you now. We know it wasn’t you who ratted us out; you don't need that cop anymore. You have your brothers back now.”

  “Do I?” David asked, looking around. Fair weather friends…where had he heard that term? It must have been in a children’s story he had read some time long ago. There would have been friendly animals who imparted life lessons, and that was an important lesson. Real friends are with you in good times and in bad. Olivia had seen David at his lowest—beaten, bloody, and devastated—and she hadn’t shunned him. Olivia had cared for him, talked to him, listened to him, and made love to him. “What happens when something else goes wrong and it falls on me? You guys gonna make me the sacrificial lamb, shun me, and toss me to the wolves?” David demanded

  “Mistakes were made, David, but everything can be made right again. But you can’t be in God’s Reapers if you're with a cop. How would that even work, man?” one biker said.

  David looked over at Mike, but the older man still sat on the couch looking serene, his hands on his belly, listening impassively to the men around him. He glanced at David, but his expression was unreadable. David had always respected Mike, always gone to him for advice, but no longer. Mike looked at David, not the way an adult looks at a younger man, but the way equals would look at each other. Mike didn’t have any answers; he couldn’t help David with this.

  “I don’t know how that would work. But you shouldn’t be scared of doing something just because no one has ever done it before,” David said. “Who’s to say that Olivia and I can’t be together?”

  “We’re saying it. How are you gonna be a biker and do what we do and go home to a cop every night? What are you going to tell her when she’s cozying up to you and says, ‘How was your day, dear?’ What then?”

  “Yeah, you gonna be honest with her? Or are you gonna have a woman at home whom you lie to every night?”

  “Men have tried it in the past, David. Men have tried to live two separate lives. They’ve been with the club by day and went home and pretended to be a good, old-fashioned husband to their wives, pretended like their lives were normal. But it caught up with them. It was too hard to live a double life, and something eventually has
to give. Something breaks.”

  David didn’t even know who was talking any more. It didn’t matter which brother spoke, because each brother was speaking for all of them. Who did David think he was that he could do what no other member had done? And their words weren’t without merit or worth; they were speaking the truth. To them, David wasn’t a revolutionary; he was just young and foolish and in love. They had seen it before and heard stories of other men who had tried and failed. In their own way, they were trying to warn and protect him.

  “I don’t know,” David admitted. “I don’t know how to make it work. But I’m not done with her, and I’m still in this gang. I’m not leaving her,” David said with finality. He looked each member in the eye, and he could see that none of them were happy. They shook their heads and looked away, as if he was a man who was condemned.

  David nodded and said, “I need to go and see her. Make sure Rick’s arrested and she’s got her job back.” Rick’s car was in the back, and the keys were sitting on the kitchen table. Without another word or a look back, David walked into the kitchen grabbed the keys and left.

  He started the car and began to drive back to Marina’s Crest. When he could see the hazy outline of the city in front of him, he called Olivia.

  “Hey,” she said when she answered.

  “Hey,” David said, happy to hear the sound of her voice. “Are you alright? Where are you?”

  “Home,” Olivia answered. “They arrested Rick, but I am still officially suspended, so they sent me home.” She sounded sad and a little frustrated.

  “I want to see you,” David said.

  “I want to see you, too. Come over,” Olivia said into the phone.

  “I’ll be in there ten minutes,” David said, and he hung up the phone and continued to drive towards Olivia’s house. As he drove, he couldn’t help but think how right this all felt. He wanted to be with Olivia, and she wanted to be with him. Everything about their lives was complicated except that one single fact. They wanted each other; they cared for each other. But David was a pragmatist, and he couldn’t help but wonder if love could really be enough.

  He shook his head as he realized he was already longing for the days when their relationship had been a secret, when they didn’t have to care about what anyone else thought. It had, without a doubt, been the worst period in David’s life. His brothers had been arrested, and they thought he had been to blame, but that darkness had led him to Olivia. She had pulled him up from the depths of despair and saved him. It all had to matter, didn’t it? In the end, they couldn’t have gone through all of that only to go their separate ways when the dust cleared.

  CHAPTER FOURTY TWO

  Olivia jumped from her couch when she heard the knock at her door. She checked the peephole and then threw the door open and catapulted herself into David’s arms. He laughed as he was forced back a step, but he buried his face in her hair and wrapped his arms tightly around her. For a moment, he forgot about everything else in the world.

  “Ahem,” an annoyed voice whispered, as an elderly lady and her little white poodle walked past them. However, Olivia still didn’t turn away. She just smiled and looked up at David, and he leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips that turned into a deeper kiss, as Olivia buried her hands in his hair and pulled him closer.

  “Am I allowed inside?” David finally asked as the kiss broke.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Olivia said with a smile. She took his hand and led the way, pulling him in with her. “So how did it go with the Reapers?” Olivia asked, perching on the arm of her couch.

  “It went,” David said, not sure what else to say. “They don’t like the idea of you and me.”

  “Oh,” Olivia said, and the smile slipped from her face. “My captain wasn’t thrilled about the idea either.”

  “What do you think?” David asked.

  “I think that I love you and I want to be with you,” Olivia said. As her dark eyes found his, she hoped he could hear the honesty and sincerity in her voice and see it in her eyes. “I don’t know that I care what anyone else thinks. And I know how naïve that sounds, but”—she shrugged her shoulders and gave him a crooked grin—“I know what I want. I want you, and I don’t really care if people have a problem with it.” There, she had said it out loud. There was no taking it back, and it had felt wonderful to say. Suddenly, all of those songs that talked about love made sense to her. It didn’t matter if the world didn’t agree; it didn’t matter what her job was. She loved him—and maybe that could be enough.

  “I love you, too,” David said, walking over to her and taking both of her hands in his. “The thing is, when I was at my lowest, it wasn't God’s Reapers who were there for me—it was you. You’ve seen me at my worst, and now it only seems fair that you get to see me at my best.”

  “But you’re still a Reaper,” Olivia said.

  “And you’re still a cop,” David answered.

  Olivia looked up, and David brought his hand to her cheek and caressed her skin. Olivia closed her eyes, letting herself focus on that sensation and no other. She could feel his fingertips, as they drew fire across her skin. His hands were somehow soft and firm at the same time, and Olivia wondered why he didn’t have his hands on her all of the time. She reached out for his shirt and crushed the fabric between her fingers and pulled him closer. She looked into his blue eyes, and then she kissed him. First, it was just a peck on the lips, and then, she let her kiss linger. David grabbed her arms and pulled her closer and deepened the kiss.

  His hands ran up and down her back, and Olivia moaned in pleasure. She couldn’t get enough of his touch. He was so warm and so loving and she broke the kiss and buried her face in his neck. She could feel his heart beating in his chest, and she could hear his breathing, and she felt so close to him in that moment, closer than she had ever felt to any other person. She kissed his neck, delicately, her touch light as silk, stopping on occasion to nibble and lick his skin.

  David’s grip on Olivia tightened, as he moaned her name. Finally, Olivia had kissed all the way from his shoulder to his mouth, and David put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her mouth to his, his hand running through her hair.

  “I thought you were dead,” Olivia whispered. She looked down at the ground, suddenly afraid to look him in the eye.

  “I’m sorry you worried.” He was whispering now, too. She could feel his breath on her neck, as he leaned down and kissed her on her collarbone. “I was locked up in a basement, or you would have been my first call.”

  “You were locked in a basement!” Olivia said, taking his cheek in her hand and looking into his eyes.

  “Yes,” he said, leaning into her hand and kissing her palm. “But I’m fine. You don’t need to worry anymore.” He kissed her and then stopped and kissed her forehead and whispered, “I love you.”

  “I love you, too,” Olivia said. They kissed again, deeply, their hands all over each other, their tongues dancing together as he lifted her off the couch. “Let’s go to bed,” she said to him. She led the way with his arms around her waist and his mouth nipping at her neck as they walked.

  Once in the bedroom, David closed the door behind him and stood with his back to the door and watched Olivia. She turned and smiled at him, as she began to slowly unbutton her shirt. Button-by-button, her fingers worked their way down, revealing the lacy, black bra she was wearing underneath. She unsnapped her gray pants and wiggled her way out of them until she was wearing only her underwear.

  In two strides David was on her, his hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs rubbing over her nipples through the rough fabric. He kissed her hard; he kissed her as he remembered the foolish moments he had spent away from her. Olivia’s hands traced down to David’s belt and then lower as she stroked his bulge through the fabric of his jeans. Still kissing him, Olivia reached down with both hands and undid the belt and the button and unzipped his pants, and they fell down him. David stepped out of his jeans and twirled Olivia around in one smo
oth motion so she had her back to him, and he pulled her closer.

  She could feel his erection on her lower back, and she couldn’t help but move her ass against it, making David groan as he kissed her neck. She felt his fingers swiftly unclasp her bra, and he ripped it from her and tossed it to the ground. His hands were grabbing at her ass, and he found the waistband to her panties and then slid them off and down to her ankles. They moved against each other, as David’s hands played with her breasts and his mouth licked and bit her neck.

  “I want you,” he said, as his hands made their way down until they were close to the place where she needed him the most.

  “Yes,” Olivia whispered.

  “Good,” David said, and he moved her over to the dresser and guided her down until she was bent over, her ass in the air, supporting herself by her forearms on her dresser. Olivia slid her legs apart and moaned, as she felt David’s hands begin to massage her back. His fingers worked over her skin, and then she moaned louder, as his hands made their way down her body, stopping at her ass, and he grabbed her tightly. She was immobilized, her hands on the dresser supporting her body. The only thing she could do was close her eyes and enjoy the sensation of David’s touch. He was running his hands up and over the curves of her body, stopping here and there to grab her.