MC Bear My Baby (Beartooth Brotherhood MC)

by Bella Love-Wins

  “How long you working tonight?”

  “A few hours.”

  “Fine… and when I catch this motherfucking asshole—”

  “Please don’t finish that sentence. I get the picture.”

  She registered his nod, and the grim expression on his face. His gaze raked across her body. She’d never seen him this upset before, and that made her fidgety as she stood with her back against the Jeep. “Let me go, Tate.”

  Finally, he stepped aside. “Just hurry your little ass up.”

  He didn’t need to tell her twice.

  6

  Tate

  “Yo, we’re back!” Tate called out through the bizarrely empty clubhouse. “Whoever’s here come down for a little pow-wow session!”

  It was weird not to see any of the executives around, but whatever. It was a weeknight. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he watched Molly shut the door behind them, looking tired as hell, and she still had a shift to work tonight. She dragged her duffel bag behind her, insistent on pulling her own weight. He’d tried to take the bag, but Molly wasn’t having it. She told him he never was much of gentleman. No need to start now.

  Tate cleared his throat and eyed the three twisted claws hanging out around one of the bar tables playing a card game. They saw him glance their way, and two of them got their flirt on in a less than subtle way. It wasn’t until Molly came to stand at his side that he knew he had to get his shit straight.

  Molly didn’t even react to them.

  What he couldn’t figure out was why her lack of reaction bothered him.

  He was one mental motherfucker, half expecting her to have some kind of response, as if chicks wanting his cock wasn’t an everyday occurrence. This was messing with his game for sure. Frowning, he swallowed and bolted pass the three groupies. He stepped around the bar and poured himself a nice size shot of whiskey, and one for Molly.

  Silas, the Beartooth Brotherhood President, came down the hall and stepped in beside him at the bar. “Rough day at the office?”

  Before Tate could answer, Axe and Cole, the rest of his MC brothers, entered as well, followed by Dean, their top potential candidate for Road Captain. Each of them nodded over at Molly, who was standing in the middle of the common room with her bag beside her, as if she was waiting for an invite. Which was all kinds of strange because on a normal day, she’d make herself at home. Tate shook his head. There wasn’t a goddamn thing that was normal about today.

  “You with us, bro?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m here. Just getting our shit together. Molly’s gonna be staying with us. She’s got issues. Did Sabrina fill you in?”

  “My woman’s got my back. I know the details.” Silas glanced at Molly, nodded again, and clapped a hand on Tate’s back with a brotherly look that made Tate want to snag another drink. “You be careful with that one. I think she’s breakable.”

  “Noted.” Tate poured a drink for his president. “So, how’s business?”

  “You’re really into this job you got, aren’t you buddy?”

  “It’s a wild one…” Tate said through gritted teeth.

  “Well, if you really want to know, business is going great. Word of mouth all the way. Specifically, Addison Riley’s mouth. The guy’s like an evangelist for the MC, doing badass things for us. But just know I don’t believe you give a fuck about how business is going, not the way you’re watching your new assignment like a hawk.”

  Tate glared at Silas, fingers tightening around the shot glass as his president broke out into a wide grin.

  “Seriously, dude. Not subtle.”

  He cocked his head with a glare, and Silas put his fingers in between his lips and whistled loud enough to fuck up everyone’s eardrums. The men and a couple of the twisted claws looked over at him.

  “Dramatic much, pres?” Tate nudged him with an elbow and winked, his stare locking on Molly. She finally took a seat at one of the tables close to the staircase leading to the private rooms where most of the MC laid their cuts for the night.

  “Big announcement, everybody.” Silas ran a hand through his hair and waited. Less than a minute later, the room was suddenly pretty damn full. Members came in from every doorway to listen. “The panther MC president and I had a chat today.” He was talking about Kitt Reese, president of the panther MC motherfuckers. “Kitt wants to talk about making a truce with us. Cole and I think it’s time, so that’s gonna happen in the next couple of days. It’s not something we were expecting this fast, but whatever. We’ll roll with it.”

  Axe, the Sergeant at Arms, wolf-whistled and rolled his eyes as he clapped. He wasn’t convinced.

  Cole, the grey-haired Vice President, nodded. “I think it sounds promising, even if it turns out too good to be true.” He took a drag of his cigar and used his other hand to smack his wife Jenny’s ass when she came to stand beside him.

  Axe took a seat and kicked up his feet on a center table. “I’ll believe it when I see it. Kitt and Death Adder have a way of changing their minds.” He grimaced as he seemed to contemplate the wolf shifter MC president. “Somebody remind me of Death Adder’s real name again?”

  “Dean Roman,” Silas offered.

  “Wasn’t that the name of that dude who killed Caesar?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “You know, back in the Roman Empire.”

  Tate spoke up. “No, you dumb fuck. That was Brutus.”

  “Whatever. I hate the name Roman, that’s all.”

  “Fuck you too, asshole. Have you forgotten my last name is Roman too?”

  “Shit. Oh yeah. What, are you related to the wolf pack president or what?”

  “I’ll fucking cut you, dickface.”

  “Half-breed motherfucker,” Axe mumbled just to get a rise out of Tate.

  Tate vaulted across the counter and grabbed Axe by the neck. “Do you like your fucking life right now? I’ll fucking end you, brother.”

  Even as he choked the man, Axe answered with, “I hit a nerve, didn’t I?”

  Cole dragged Tate off and Silas pounded his hand on the counter to get everyone’s attention.

  “The fuck? We’ve got business to get to. Now both of you calm the hell down.”

  Tate shook off Cole and straightened his cut, returning to his seat at the table.

  “Go ahead, Cole.”

  Cole shook his head. “Anyway, I was about to ask, what about that little contingent of dragon shifters that showed up out of nowhere lately?”

  Silas shrugged and knocked back the shot Tate had poured him. “No idea, bro. They haven’t messed with us so we have to assume they’re friendlies. Riley mentioned he’s tight with one of them now. We can do some intel through him down the road. For now, let’s prep for this truce with the panthers. Death Adder…Dean Roman, not to be confused with Brutus, and not Tate’s relative in any way, shape or form,” he added for Axe’s sake, coughing out a laugh. “Death Adder said he wanted to get into some talks later on too, so when he comes around, we’ll be ready. Getting back to the topic of the panthers, Kitt says he’ll be in touch again with a meeting place. No weapons, all talk, and hopefully some kind of resolution to our fucked up dealings. Until that meeting goes down, no one is to mess with any panthers.”

  The old ladies whispered in the corner while the clubhouse erupted into loud chatter. Everyone had an opinion. Everyone including Tate still wanted a piece of their rivals. The only exceptions seemed to be Silas, Cole and Axe. After what he’d done to the club, blowing up half the place then setting a sniper on Silas’s mom, Cindy, blood was called for, or the man’s head on a spike.

  “You know how I feel about the motherfucker,” Tate whispered under his breath. “But if this is what you want, I’ll toe the line. I just won’t like it.”

  “I bet,” Silas dragged a hand through his hair and grinned, snagging the whiskey bottle.

  Then it dawned on Tate. Shit, this new found peace treaty probably meant that he’d have to confess
about the slash and dash he did at the bar earlier. Yeah, coming clean would probably be important, but wasn’t ready for Silas to dish out a lecture at a time like this. Axe would get it, but Cole and Silas would hand him his ass on a plate.

  Still, waiting could make things worse. He decided he’d pull his brothers aside to the meeting room so they could hear it from him. Maybe Silas could smooth things over with both Kitt Reese and before it got out of hand. Death Adder would have to be for another day.

  “So, uh, boss? Can we have a chat with the boys?” Tate ran a hand down his face and slapped on a grin. “We may have a little issue… nothing big.”

  “Oh yeah?” Silas cocked an eyebrow and leaned back with both hands on the bar. “What the fuck did you do now, Tate?”

  “Let’s go talk.”

  His president’s face got stone cold and serious. Before he made for the meeting room to tell them what he’d done and to admit that he wasn’t in the least bit sorry, his eyes caught the ladies over at the staircase. Molly got one of Jenny’s hugs, and Sabrina was beside them. Jenny led her up the stairs as Molly muscled her large duffel bag with her.

  Nope, she didn’t need him for a damn thing at all.

  7

  Molly

  Molly put the last pair of sweatpants away in the guest room drawer. Shoving it closed with her hip, she unwound the gauze Tate had put on her wrist at her house. That thing was overkill. Stuffing it in a side pocket of her bag, she left and closed her door. She needed a stiff drink at the bar. Just as she took the first step down the flight of stairs, Tate’s voice floated upward past all the others.

  “Come on, man. Don’t give me that—”

  She froze in the spot to listen. This could get interesting, hearing what he really thought of this Jett situation.

  One of the top guys, probably Cole said, “It’s the truth, brother. It’s clear as day there’s something going on between you two.”

  “Whatever, man.”

  “And now, with both of you in spitting distance of knocking boots every second, you’re trying to tell me you and Molly don’t have a thing?”

  Leave it to Cole to spare the sugar coating on the situation. Molly held her breath, unsure whether she wanted to hear how Tate would react. Her heart raced against her rib cage and she swallowed past her sickly sweet fear, balling her hands into fists at her side. She had half a mind to charge down there and give them all crap for talking shit behind her back. The problem was that now her curiosity was piqued. She had to know, and didn’t care if anyone saw her at the top of the stairs in this not so discrete hiding spot.

  “Women have a way of growing on you, so you’d better watch out.” Silas laughed. “I didn’t plan on Sabrina either.”

  She bit her lip wondering where the old ladies were right now. Clearly they weren’t down there listening. Sabrina would probably have been the first to shut them down. Molly sighed, running her hands down her hips. Why wasn’t Tate speaking up? She wanted to hear his take on things, dammit. She fiddled with her fingers, twisting them in front of her body. God, why was she so nervous, anyway? This whole thing was ridiculous.

  “Dudes, give me a fucking break,” Tate said, adding a disgusted scoff. “Molly’s cool and shit, but this isn’t some fairytale. She knows what we have. We’re both damn good at scratching each other’s itch, nothing more, nothing less. There aren’t hearts or diamonds in our future.”

  “Bullshit,” Silas added.

  “I don’t know what the hell you’re seeing, man. Trust me, we’re both lucky if she doesn’t get sick of being here in the next six days, let alone start a thing. We’re both banging everything in sight as is and we’re both cool with it.”

  There was an odd wave of silence. Molly’s jaw was locked as she exhaled with her eyes closed and inhaled again, calming herself down so she wouldn’t charge down the steps and beat Tate to a bloody pulp. There was a big difference between casually sleeping together and being insanely rude about it. Tate had jumped that line and was running toward a verbal cliff, acting as if their time together was as routine as making a gourmet coffee run every morning.

  “Sleeping with Molly, that’ll be over in five and then we can grab a beer,” she muttered to herself. “Douchebag.”

  In his mind she amounted to a nice little hole where he could put his cock. Forget any kind of friendship. He’d put her in the same league as the twisted claws that he had one night stands with on a regular basis…but they’d been sleeping together consistently on and off again for way longer than any of those other women. It wasn’t as if she was expecting a ring, but he owed her some respect. She blinked while the rejection burned hot in her veins and she physically tried to shake it off. No amount of wiggling would erase his little sound bite from her brain. God, she knew he was fucked in the head, but this took it to a whole other level. Before she could totally go off the deep end with it, she forced her rubbery legs into action and went down the clubhouse stairs. She took them one deliberate step at a time, hands on her hips, eying each of the five men as they gabbed away like roosting hens, until Silas saw her about halfway down the flight.

  There was only one way to approach this situation—and it didn’t involve kid gloves.

  Molly zeroed in on Axe. He was swigging beer from a bottle as his thunderous laugh rocketed around the clubhouse bar. Yup, he would do perfectly for the job. She sped up, springing down the remaining steps until she broke through the circle of men and slung her arm around Axe’s waist with a tight squeeze.

  “Mind if I borrow that?” When Axe looked down at her in confusion, she snagged his half-empty bottle and took a dainty sip. “It was a long ride over here and I could go for an above average refreshment.”

  “Is that so, baby?”

  Axe’s brow furrowed but his strong, lean arm locked around her waist. All the men looked on at their little foray into flirting. She was a little rusty. The last time she’d come on to anyone she was three sheets to the wind and the guy was a notorious womanizer. Her current target was a little more subtle and she was way less drunk.

  “Want to come with me to the bar? I could use the company…” Molly winked at him, not so subtly licking her lips in what she hoped was coming across as seductive.

  “Why don’t you take Tate?” Axe leaned down and whispered against the lobe of her ear, all the while playing along with her little game.

  She rose up and whispered back, “Isn’t it obvious?”

  Axe grunted, tightened his hold around her waist, and leaned down to sniff the side of her neck. He lingered an extra-long time, nuzzling a small spot.

  “You’re a sweet little minx, aren’t you?” He said loud enough for everyone to hear, including Tate who was standing less than six feet away from them. “I like where you’re going with that train of thought. Yeah, I’ll get you a drink. I’ll get you anything you want, sweetheart.”

  “It’s good to know someone around here will take care of me,” Molly traced the side of Axe’s face with her fingers, giving him a megawatt come-hither smile that would knock any guy on his ass.

  Meanwhile, Axe was playing his part perfectly. He grabbed a handful of her thick dark hair, smiling. She shot upward, squeaked, and told him he was being a naughty boy.

  “Oh does that mean you’re waiting for Tate to step up and show me who’s boss?” He arched one brow, stole back his beer, and snatched her hand that was busy tracing down the ridges of his six-pack abs through his shirt. “We can make that happen, all Tate has to do is say the word. I’d love to see you with a little less clothes on. Maybe a fucking striptease is in order…and I do mean fucking. Tate? You game for me making a move on your, uh…your client?”

  Molly didn’t dare look at Tate. She gauged her reactions by the expressions of the other three bikers standing around, and judging by their confusion, she was doing a damn good job. A not so subtle heat rose up to her cheeks and she bit her lip. Unsure if she could seriously go on with the charade. Axe seemed to know exactly what
this was about, and he had her back. While she was floundering, he put his hand on her lower back, winked at the men, and steered her over at Tate without another word. Tate didn’t say a thing, so she and Axe stepped over to the bar arm-in-arm. Axe poured her a shot, grinning as if that was the most fun he’d had all day.

  “Well, how’d I do?” she fake batted her lashes at him and reached to feel up his bicep, just to keep up the rouse.

  “That was fucking brilliant, Molly. You cool if I touch you again? He’s still looking over here like he’s going to shift and pound me into tomorrow. The kid has all the self-control of a bear cub the way he’s glaring right now.”

  “Oh yeah, go for it. I want him so pissed he doesn’t stop grinding his teeth in his sleep for a week.”

  Axe wolfishly grinned and slid a hand along her upper thigh as he brought his face in close, as if they would get it on right there. “Hey wait. This routine could probably work on chicks too. I say you should be my wingwoman next time I’m out on the prowl.”

  “Sure, stud.”

  “How much of the conversation did you hear from upstairs?” His eyes sparkled with mirth while she fought the urge to look back across the room.

  “All of it. I think.”

  Axe winced and took a long swig from his beer. “That sucks, but at least you know where you stand.”

  “That’s a bright side.”

  Axe snorted. Refilling her shot glass, he clinked his beer against it and gave her a grin. “If Tate doesn’t boil over in ten seconds flat, I’ll throat punch him for you.”

  “You’re sweet. No need, though. I wasn’t looking for anything serious—”

  “I get it, but it’s a respect thing… Drink up, little lady. It’s gonna be a long night with that motherfucker this pissed off.”

  “Pissed off and acting the fool.” Molly downed her drink, slammed the small glass on the counter and watched as Axe gave her a refill.

  “Shut up and drink. He’s seething.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Won’t be long now. How far are you willing to take this little game?”