by Lexy Timms
The thought had never occurred to me. “Oh, my God, do you think it’s possible?” There’d been so many people at the reception and I’d left my glass on a lot of different tables between dances. It would have been easy for someone to drug it.
“I hope not. You didn’t wake up in someone else’s bed and not tell me about it, did you?” she asked and then chuckled. “Obviously, you would have told me about it by now.”
“No, I woke up in my hotel room,” I replied, keeping Taylor out of the equation.
“At least you weren’t raped.”
“Exactly.”
“I guess we’ll never know.”
“I guess not, but one thing’s for certain – I’m never leaving my drinks unattended again.”
“It’s suicide these days. Anyway, back to Taylor – don’t expect to hear from him again. Once the man has you, you’re just another faceless sex partner that he could give two flying fucks about.”
“Actually, he’s supposed to call me later today,” I said. “But, that’s about my car.”
“At least he’s still willing to help you with that. Oh, listen. I’ve got to go. Carter is on the other line.”
“Okay.”
“Call me when you find out about your car.”
“I will,” I said. “Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
I hung up and was about to plug my phone into the charger when my stomach rolled and I was hit with a wave of nausea. I quickly ran to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet.
“Oh, God,” I moaned, wiping my mouth with a wad of toilet paper. “Wouldn’t it be just my luck to find out that I was pregnant?”
I was on the pill, though, and only had sex twice in the last two months. Ironically, both times with Taylor Adams. I’d also gotten my period the month before, although it had been pretty light.
Relax, you’re not pregnant.
Flushing the toilet, I cleaned myself up and went into the kitchen. I pulled out a box of crackers and began eating them. After a few minutes, my stomach settled and I felt like my old self again.
Chapter 16
Taylor
It was just after twelve o’clock and I was sitting in the clubhouse, talking to Tank and Raptor about the asshole, Mark.
“That fucker has to pay,” I said, still angry about my tires. Tank had been nice enough to tow my bike on one of his trailers earlier. Not only did it need new tires but the bastard had keyed the bike. Now I needed to have bodywork done on it, along with tires.
“I agree. Do you have any idea where he is?” asked Tank.
“Not at the moment,” I said. “He’s not near Lauren’s. I’ve got Dover posted outside the property, in case he shows up.”
Tank scratched his five-o-clock shadow. “I think he’ll show up eventually. He’s obviously obsessed with her.”
“Why don’t you have Lauren set up a meeting?” asked Raptor. “She can pretend everything is right between them.”
I nodded. “That’s actually a good idea. Let me call her,” I said, pulling out my phone. I dialed Lauren and she answered on the third ring.
“Hey,” I said. “How’s it going?”
“Good. So, are you calling about my car?”
“Sorry, I haven’t heard anything yet, but I’ll definitely let you know.”
“Okay.”
“Have you heard anything from that Mark character today?”
“Unfortunately, yes. He sent me another text. I told him to leave me alone and then blocked his number.”
“Babe, I need you to unblock it. At least for a few hours.”
Raptor and Tank looked at each other and grinned.
“Babe?” said Raptor, looking amused.
I flipped him the bird.
“Why do you want me to unblock him?” she asked, sounding shocked.
I told her what he’d done to my bike.
“Oh, my God! I’m so sorry, Taylor. That asshole!”
“No shit, huh? Anyway, I want you to set up a meeting with him.”
“Why?”
“He owes me some money,” I replied, not wanting to tell her anything else. “I’m collecting.”
Tank gave me the thumbs up.
“He’s not going to pay you.”
“He will once I get my hands on him. I want you to call him and tell him you were wrong about breaking up with him.”
“He’s not going to believe that.”
“If you’re persuasive enough, he will.”
She swore.
“It’s the last time you’ll ever have to talk to him,” I said. “I promise.”
“Are you going to kill him?”
I laughed. “Of course not,” I said. We were going to beat the fuck out of him and if he died, so be it. “But, I’m not going to lie to you – Mark vandalized my bike and now he’s going to face the consequences. This isn’t just about you and him, anymore. This is personal.”
“Shit yeah,” said Tank, holding up his fist.
“Tell it like it is, brother,” said Raptor, winking at me.
Smiling, I bumped Tank’s fist.
“Who was that?” asked Lauren.
“Nobody. So, do you think you can do that for me?” I said, walking away from my cheering section.
“I guess. I just don’t want to be involved with anything that’s going to get one of us thrown in jail,” she said.
“Nobody is going to jail. I guarantee it,” I said.
She sighed. “Okay. I’ll do it.”
Fortunately, Mark fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Lauren set up a meeting with him at a nearby diner and he agreed to meet with her at ten o’clock in the evening. What he didn’t know was that it would be the last time he ate dinner with all of his own teeth.
Chapter 17
Lauren
It took a lot of effort from me to remove Mark from my ‘blocked’ list, let alone talk to him on the phone and pretend that I wanted him back. In fact, I threw up again after setting up our late-night dinner date.
“I knew you’d come around,” he’d said, before I hung up. “And now that my wife is out of the picture, you can move back to Minneapolis and into my place.”
“That sounds great,” I said, before rushing off to the bathroom again. “I have to go. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Yes, my love. I can’t wait.”
After leaving the bathroom, I called Taylor back and told him it was a go.
“Sweet. I knew you could do it.”
“It wasn’t easy,” I said, my mouth still sour from throwing up.
“By the way, I spoke to Hoss. It was the fuel pump. He’s fixing it right as we speak.”
“Is that expensive?”
“Don’t worry about it. The club is paying for it.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“To pay you back for setting this thing up with Mark.”
“Uh, okay,” I replied. “Tell them thanks.”
“Actually, you can tell them yourself tomorrow,” he answered. “Tank is having us over for a barbecue and asked me to bring you.”
“You want me to come to a club function?” I asked, surprised.
“Yeah. I mean, Tank insists that I bring you.”
In other words, Taylor was being forced to bring me, I thought.
“Okay. I guess I can come,” I replied, not wanting to offend Tank. I’d heard a lot about the leader of the Gold Vipers. He seemed like an easy-going guy but had a short fuse.
“Sweet. I’ll let him know. I’ll probably pick you up around noon.”
“Okay. What about my car?”
“I’ll drive it over as soon as it’s done. He said it should be ready by five.”
“Okay. Thanks Taylor. I owe you.”
“We already went over this before – you don’t owe me anything.”
“I could cook you dinner,” I said quickly, surprised at myself for offering.
“Dinner?”
“Yeah. Tonight. After you drop off the car.�
�
“I can’t, babe. I’ve got some stuff to take care of before that meeting with Mark.”
So, Barbara had been right. Taylor was already sick of me. Even though I should have expected it, the truth hurt.
“Okay, maybe another night,” I mumbled, knowing it was a waste of breath to ask.
“Yes, of course. Look, I gotta go. We’re having church in a few minutes.”
“Church?”
“A club meeting.”
“Okay.”
His voice softened. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Don’t be worried about tonight.”
“You mean Mark?”
“Yeah. He’s never going to bother you again. I’ll make sure he understands that you don’t want anything to do with him.”
“Okay. Just…”
“Just what?”
“Don’t do anything that will get you thrown in jail.”
“I hear you.”
I knew he heard me but something told me that he just wasn’t listening…
Chapter 18
Taylor
I stopped home, took a shower, and then dropped off Lauren’s car to her at five-thirty. She was dressed in a peach colored sundress that showed off her legs, she had on eye makeup. Her sable-colored hair shined like satin.
“Here you go, beautiful,” I said, holding out her keys. The woman was truly breathtaking with or without makeup.
“Thanks.”
As she reached for them, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her deeply.
“Wow,” she whispered, afterward. “That was unexpected.”
“Why?” I asked, running my hands over her firm ass. I was as hard as a rock, but there was no time to do anything about it. I had to pick up Hoss in twenty minutes.
She lowered her eyelashes. “I thought you were done with me.”
“You thought wrong,” I said, raising her chin. We stared into each other’s eyes. “Why do you think I invited you to the barbecue tomorrow?”
“I thought it was Tank’s idea.”
“He’s always asking me to bring a date to his place, but this is the first time I’ve ever asked anyone.”
“You said he wanted to meet me.”
“Yeah. He has this insane idea that I’m falling hard for you.”
She could tell I was teasing her. “Oh yeah?”
I grinned. “He’s not wrong.”
We kissed again and then I told her that I couldn’t stay.
“I need your phone, by the way.”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“In case he texts you.”
“What if he calls instead?”
“I’ll text him back, pretending to be you.”
“Okay.” She walked into the kitchen and returned soon after with the phone. “Here. Don’t lose it.”
“Okay.”
“So, does this mean you’re going to stop by after you’re done dealing with him and bring me back my phone?”
“Yeah, I figured you’d need it and… I’m thinking that I need some more of you,” I replied with a wicked grin.
Her eyebrow arched. “Oh, is that right?”
“Yes. Is that okay?”
She smiled. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”
I kissed her again. “I’ll see you. Wear that outfit you had on last night. It looked good on you.”
“The one in the pool?” she asked, giggling.
“Yeah. Nobody does naked better than you.”
“I’d have to disagree. You’re pretty sexy yourself under the moonlight.”
“I’ll look sexier under you.”
She blushed.
Chuckling, I left.
Chapter 19
Lauren
I was on pins and needles, for the next several hours, worried about the meeting with Mark. I wanted to believe that Taylor and his club brothers were going to sit and have a civilized conversation with him, but I wasn’t that naïve. He was crazy and they were dangerous. Someone was going to get hurt and it certainly wasn’t the bikers.
Eventually, I couldn’t sit still any longer and decided to take a drive to the grocery store, hoping that it would help take my mind of off of everything. I also wanted to make sure that when Taylor stopped by, there’d be something to snack on since my refrigerator was basically empty.
Once inside the store, I purchased a jar of peanut butter, a large bag of pretzels, three donuts, and a six-pack of beer. I also picked up a pregnancy test, just for the hell of it.
After I returned home, I put the groceries away and then signed into my laptop. Money was tight and I knew that there wasn’t much left in my savings. After job searching with little results for over an hour, I shut off my computer and tried watching television, but couldn’t concentrate.
It was then that I decided to take the pregnancy test. It was something to take my mind off of what was happening in other parts of town.
Humming to myself, I opened the box and walked into the bathroom with the test. I followed the instructions and then waited, watching as the red line appeared in the test circle.
“Phew,” I said, laughing out loud at my own paranoia.
Unfortunately, another red line began to appear diagonally.
I frowned, thinking it was a faulty test.
“I can’t be pregnant,” I mumbled, after checking the pamphlet from the box again. “I’m on the pill.”
The results gave a different answer.
“No. I’m on the pill!” I repeated, unwilling to accept the results. “I’m on the fucking pill!”
Chapter 20
Taylor
Picking up Mark Leopold had been easy. The man was so arrogant that it must have never occurred to him that Lauren wasn’t ever showing up.
After bringing him to a deserted barn just outside of Jensen, I stared into the face of the man who’d been terrorizing Lauren. To say that I was shocked would have been putting it mildly.
Mark was the middle-aged guy from the hotel. The one who’d pretended he’d known Barbara and Carter. The one who’d rode down the elevator with me. The one who’d been on the video surveillance.
“You,” I growled, grabbing him by the shirt collar. “You piece of shit, I should rip your dick off and shove it up your ass.”
“Please,” he begged, his eyes darting around the room, “don’t kill me!”
There were five of us confronting him – me, Tank, Raptor, Hoss, and J.T. We’d expected someone younger. Someone who could at least appear to have the ability to fight back without recently having had a hip-replacement. I couldn’t even imagine where he found the energy to pop a chubby, let alone scale the fence in the back of our clubhouse.
“People have died for less than what you’ve done,” I snarled into his face. “Don’t you get it?”
Tank moved closer and tapped him on the chest firmly. “Pal, you broke into our clubhouse and stole something valuable. That right there deserves a noose and a hole in the ground.”
Mark looked horrified. “Please. Don’t hurt me. I know I’ve fucked up. It was for Lauren, though. Love makes you crazy things, you know?”
“Give it up,” I muttered, sickened by the man who’d had so much control over her.
“Seriously. I was just trying to impress her. That’s why I did what I did,” he said, his eyes full of tears.
“You impressed nobody,” I replied. “Especially not her. I can’t believe she ever let someone like you put your old, fucking noodle inside of her.”
“She loves me. Age doesn’t matter when there’s a bond like we have.”
“A bond?” I laughed coldly. “You really are a delusional piece of shit.”
“Tail,” said Tank, who was calmer than I was. “Step aside for a second, brother.”
Sighing, I released Mark and backed up.
“So, you’re the man who broke into my clubhouse two months ago?” asked Tank, circling him. “How in the hell did you scale that fen
ce?”
“I didn’t. There’s a large hole in it, near the west end of the building. You should probably get that fixed.”
“I guess so,” said Tank, studying him. “
“Let me go. I only did what I did out of desperation,” said Mark.
“You mean you did it to impress a girl. Just like you said,” replied Tank.
He smiled, as if Tank was really hearing him. “Yes.”
“Tell me, what did you steal?” he asked.
“A leather vest,” Mark said.
Tank’s eyes bore into his. “A cut? With our patches?”
“Yes. It was in the garbage though,” said Mark nervously. “You would have never missed it.”
“The garbage?” repeated Tank.
J.T. cleared his throat. “That had to be Buck’s.”
“We got him a bigger size,” added Raptor. “Buck’s been eating too many pizzas.”
“There you go. I took something that didn’t belong to anyone.”
“You’re wrong,” said Tank, taking out his knife. “You took something that still belonged to us, whether it was in the garbage or not. You broke into our chapel. You put your hands on Taylor’s bike, not to mention his woman.”
“She’s not his woman,” said Mark, looking angry. “Lauren is too good for him.”
“Maybe so, but she’s too good for you, too,” I snapped, glaring at him.
“You don’t even care about her. Not like I do!” he answered, his face turning red.
“Fuck you,” I said. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“On the contrary. I’ve heard all about you. You use girls and then you move on to the next. You don’t know how to appreciate a woman. You’re despicable.”
“I wouldn’t go pointing any fingers,” said Tank. “It sounds like you’re not in any kind of position to pass judgment on our brother.”
“She was mine until you put your greedy hands on her,” said Mark, ignoring him. “I saw you at the wedding. She wanted me there but you stepped in and now everything is ruined!”
“You were at the wedding?” I asked, not recalling him being there.
