“Bastard,” she shouted as the harmless thing drifted to the ground not two feet in front of her.
A satisfied smirk filled his face, and he didn’t bother to look back. Hopefully, she finally got the message that he wasn’t interested.
Piper watched in disbelief as the blonde scrambled off the stool and picked up the offensive item. The club hanger-on headed to the front door where a large can with black liner sat. She tossed it in and headed away from Piper as if she worried Piper had something contagious.
“Piper.”
She turned away from the blonde to see the older brunette.
“I made you that sandwich. Why don’t you eat it in the kitchen?” Pat asked with a nod in that direction.
Ender had told her to stay put. So of course she followed Pat without a second thought.
The room behind the bar was quite large. Kitchen cabinets were arranged in an L shape and a school cafeteria worthy table lined the wall closest to the door.
Pat sat ladylike, with her back pressed to the table and her legs crossed away from it. She pointed toward the spot where a plate sat stacked with what appeared to be a turkey sandwich.
The woman had been nothing but kind, so Piper sat like a fifth grader and stepped over the bench. She perched like a good student and thanked Pat for making her the food. “It looks wonderful. You didn’t have to go through so much trouble. And sorry about ducking out earlier.”
Pat shrugged and didn’t address Piper’s outside adventures. “It’s no problem. My kids are grown, and I miss cooking and taking care of them.”
The woman was a little worn around the edges and wore a little too much makeup, but she didn’t appear to be old enough to have grown children. And that was a good thing. Piper also guessed if Pat was the President’s old lady, she probably didn’t have to cook. She would be in charge of keeping the other women in line.
“Well, thanks anyway.” Piper bit into the sandwich. The bread and meat tasted fresh and not like prepackaged deli meat. She closed her eyes in delight of a slice of heaven after all the hell she’d been through the last day or so.
“I know it’s none of my business, but I see things.”
Piper had no idea where this conversation was headed, but was weirdly eager to hear what the other woman had to say.
“I know you said that Ender wasn’t yours, but that man wants you.”
With a mouthful of food, she nearly choked. “No, he doesn’t want me.” Piper hoped the other woman understood her because she’d spoken around a wad of food in a need to set the record straight.
“Honey, I’ve seen when the guys around here give women respect because they see that woman as a mother figure like myself or like little sisters. I’ve also seen how they look at women they think are trash. And it’s clear when they’ve fallen for a woman. And I’m not saying Ender is in love, but I can tell he’s wrestling with the idea of wanting you and being unable to have you. Since you belong to someone else, he’s not going to act on it. But, hon, he wants you bad.”
Piper shook her head and continued to eat. She hoped Pat would let that conversation die.
“That’s because…” Pat stopped herself.
“What?”
The woman sighed. “I don’t know anything but what I heard.”
Irritation grated her as she spoke. “And what’s that?”
Pat shrugged. “They say some bad shit went down a few years back that made him the way he is.”
“You aren’t going to tell me?”
“Truth is I don’t know more than it had to do with a woman. And I’ve never seen him be with one the way he is with you. Look, I’m not going to push. I don’t know what’s going on between you two. But you might be able to use that to your advantage.” Pat got up, leaving Piper unable to respond.
What had happened to Ender? And how could that work in her favor?
She ate and thought through all the questions.
Pat put a glass of orange juice in front of her.
“Thank you,” Piper offered.
The woman patted her shoulder then headed to the opposite side of the kitchen. She started to wash dishes, leaving Piper to her own thoughts. The woman had it wrong. Ender was a psycho. And the sooner she could ditch him, the better.
13
Ender didn’t head into Wagon’s office like the first time. He’d done what he’d come to do. Wagon’s charter had run into some trouble. One of their members was up on charges of gun running. Normally, that kind of thing wasn’t a problem. But the Feds had a witness. Rocky was sure that phones were being tapped because the government was looking for a big fish to fry. So Ender had to come get the details of what the government might have on them and the name of potential witnesses so Rocky could decide what or how the national club would respond.
Where he and Wagon went, out the exit opposite the one Piper had taken, was for a new problem that had to be taken care of. And at the thought of her name, his jaw tightened. What the hell was he going to do with her?
A blast of wind hit him as the weather took a turn for the worse. He had to get this over with. The last thing he needed was to shack up with Piper at the clubhouse after things went down with the trio of Joy Unlucky Club. They stood with their spines straight and chins in the air with the President around. Clearly, they didn’t understand that his authority usurped even that of a charter President.
“What the fuck, Whack?” Wagon directed at the mouthpiece of the trio who’d nearly pissed themselves in Ender’s presence earlier.
“Like I said before, we didn’t know the bitch belonged to Rocky.”
Irony, Ender thought as he watched Wagon whack the bastard bitch style on the back of the head. The guy ducked for cover a little too late to dodge the blow. Ender had to wonder if that was how the pussy earned his name.
Done with the observation, Ender growled, “Don’t call her a bitch.”
Whack shrugged. “Sorry. We didn’t know.”
To expedite things, Ender decided to take over the Q&A part of the show. The wind was kicking up, and he could smell the coming rain. “Did she tell you who she was?”
“Nah,” Whack said.
But at the same time, fat boy softly spoke up. “She said she weren’t no club whore.”
Whack scolded the fat boy with his eyes. “Shut it, Tiny. You sound like a little bitch.”
As if Tiny could possibly be the most original name for the guy, Ender shook his head. But then it hit him. Tiny did in fact sound like a girl. His voice had been a little too sweet to be as big as he was. So the nickname hadn’t been a play on the guy’s size, but a play on the tiny voice he had.
Ender’s gaze sought out Whack because he seemed to be the de facto leader of their group. And that was a problem because Whack wasn’t in charge. The two other numbnuts shouldn’t be looking to him for direction.
“She’s just like the rest of them,” the third, a tall thin boy, spoke up, sporting a smug expression.
“Shut it,” Whack commanded.
Wagon held a hand up. “Bean, speak.”
Bean glanced over at Whack. If Wagon didn’t see the dissension in his midst, he had more problems than Ender could help him with.
“It ain’t nothin’, Wagon. Just nothin’.”
Wagon’s face darkened. For a minute, Ender thought maybe the guy was going to have a heart attack. “Those three missing girls the sheriff came around asking about, did you three dickheads have something to do with that?”
Ender ran a hand through his hair as he felt his night had gone from crappy to deeper than shit.
“Nah, ain’t got nothin’ to do with that,” Whack said, but Ender watched as the guy’s eyes betrayed him. He glanced at his two companions as if to warn them to keep their mouths shut.
Ender chose his target. He armed himself gunslinger style quick and aimed at Tiny’s head before the guy could blink. “Tell us about the girls.”
“I,” Tiny stammered.
“Don’t
say shit, Tiny. He can’t do nothin’. And we know too much about the club. Keep your fat trap shut.”
“Wagon, what did the sheriff say?” Ender asked while tension surged among the group. A gust of wind came through, making the leaves rattle all around them, only adding background to the agitated situation.
“Three missing girls, each of them found later in shallow graves. There were signs of rape. One of them was as young as sixteen.”
Ender wanted to close his eyes, but kept them trained on everything around him as he continued to press the gun barrel harder into Tiny’s cranium. The big guy cowered. “Did you three have anything to do with the three missing girls?” Ender asked a final time.
The club didn’t need any more trouble.
Before Whack could give another warning, Tiny nodded.
“You fuck,” Whack yelled. Then he turned his rage on Wagon and Ender. “What are you gonna do? Call the cops and rat on us? That’s not how it works. We go down, you go down.”
Ender eyed Wagon out of respect. There was a code for a reason. The three had broken one of the bylaws. There was enough free pussy no man had to resort to assault to float their boat. Add to that, the asshole wanted to bring the cops and that could affect all of them with the Feds sniffing around.
A nod of agreement and all was decided. Three cracks into the night and the problem was solved. He headed inside, only feeling slightly bad about the outcome of court. Tiny had been somewhat of an innocent, his nickname also being an indicator of the guy’s brain activity. He was most likely a pawn, probably used most of his life by the wrong people. It was a damn shame.
“I could have done it,” Wagon said, catching up to him.
The phrase was familiar, but it didn’t bother him coming out of the guy’s mouth. “It’s done. It’s best I handled it. This way, your guys can’t see you as a traitor. I’m headed out.”
Ender clasped the other guy’s forearm and shook. He walked in the front room only to see the sexcapades were still on. Tired as hell and horny as fuck, he hadn’t found a release with Cindy or whatever the blonde’s name was. Now he was forced to find a motel for him and his target to spend the night in.
Wagon offered to put them up for the night, but with the shit that went down with the three assholes, he didn’t think it was a good idea.
He didn’t find Piper where he’d left her. That wasn’t a shock either. She was doing her best to push him over the edge and into devil’s country. But he found her with Wagon’s old lady, Pat, who had a sandwich waiting for him along with a cold beer. She was the kind of woman every brother would patch up, one with inner strength, but a desire to please her man.
“Thanks, Pat.”
“No problem.” Her smile was genuine, and she reminded him of a younger version of his mother. Pretty, but with hard knowledge of life’s bad side that dimmed some of the brightness within.
Without being asked, she left him alone with Piper. He had an urge to tell Wagon what a lucky bastard he was.
Instead, he focused on the food. Hopefully filling one of his basic needs would take his mind off the other. It took no time to inhale the sandwich.
“Let’s go,” he ordered after he finished the last bite.
Piper got up, but he spotted a fire in her eyes. He’d lit her fuse and didn’t give a fuck. She had the look of a cornered animal ready to leap. When she got up, he reached a hand out, and she twisted away from him. Good, she was learning.
“Don’t touch me.” She seethed. Didn’t he know he couldn’t just come and try to touch her? She didn’t know where his hands had been. She gave him her evil stare and only watched as his eyes twinkled with mischief.
“Oh, darling, don’t be jealous. She didn’t mean shit to me.”
She faced him, not caring what happened if she took him down in front of his precious club. “If you ever pull some shit like that again, I will cut your balls off.”
He didn’t doubt her intention. But he’d gotten the best of her and won. Deciding he wasn’t in the mood to play games anymore, he switched tactics. “As curious as I am to see if you could pull that off, get your ass in gear. Time to go.”
His eyes changed, and she wondered if he had a personality disorder. The guy staring at her, right at the moment, wasn’t one she could fuck with. She fumed as she marched straight for the exit, ignoring all the people banging each other around the room. Only one person noticed them leaving. Pat gave a little wave before the President nipped at her neck, making the woman giggle. And that was when Piper stepped out into the night, oddly a little sad about leaving.
Pat had been the first woman since her mother died whom she thought she could trust. There was just something wrong about her life when a stranger reminded her how little in life she had left.
Ender followed Piper outside and glanced up. A storm would arrive in about twenty minutes or less. Living on the land growing up had taught him the signs. He had to get a move on. He wished, and not for the first time, he hadn’t gotten her for an assignment. He could have stayed put, if not for her, and found meaning inside that blonde. Instead, he would make a Hail Mary drive for the nearest motel. And the last thing he wanted was Piper’s hands around him. But there it was. He needed a release, and he just wasn’t sure how much restraint he had left in him.
14
With clear non-prescription glasses, he drove away from the Ohio charter. Everything was dark and distant as gravel kicked up under the spinning wheels of the tires.
He took the corner low, forcing her to hang on tight and to lean into the turn with him. In fact, the whole ride even after they got on the highway, felt reckless. He unsafely passed cars and hit speeds that freaked her out. They passed several exits with food and lodging to the point where she had no idea where he was going.
By the time he did pull off, she was a ball of rage. When the bike came to a stop in the parking lot of a shabby looking motel, she jumped off.
After he cut the engine, she yelled, “What the hell was that all about? You could have killed us both!”
When he glanced up, as if on cue, the rain tumbled to the earth in sheets. Before he could even snicker, they were both drenched.
As the door closed behind them, she started to pull off her wet clothing as the air-conditioned room hit her like an icy blast. She wasn’t thinking about who was in the room with her until she turned to find him watching her.
He folded his arms across his chest. “You should shower.”
Water dripped off him as much as it did her. He pushed his hair back from his face, and she assessed how his clothes clung to his muscles. He was built like a god. Biceps were a weakness of hers, and he had the Popeye the Sailor kind after the guy ate his spinach.
When she’d been caught staring, she said, “You aren’t my father.”
He snorted. “I wouldn’t want to be.”
And why did his comment piss her the hell off?
“Go get cleaned up or…”
“Or what?” she demanded. There wasn’t anyone there besides them. She could act and say whatever she wanted.
He moved silently and quickly. She ended up off her feet as if she’d levitated. As mad as she was, she wasn’t at all surprised by his reaction. He dumped her in the bathroom and brought her back to reality when his hand caught the hem of her shirt. She batted him away.
“Get out,” she yelled and pointed at the door.
Sparks of fire leapt from his eyes. She gritted her teeth and decided she didn’t care. He’d seen it all anyway. Her shirt came off in a soggy heap as she flung it at him. Thankfully, her wig hung fast like it had been duct taped to her head. She was definitely going to log onto the vendor’s website and leave a fabulous review.
Next, she peeled off her wet jeans, which proved nearly impossible. She resorted to sitting on the covered toilet seat, which had to be gross, in order to find the leverage to pull them off.
He’d just stood there like a peeping Tom with no guilt. Left in her undies, she g
ave him her back to turn on the water. That task done, she spun around to find him gone. When she moved to close the door, his voice rang out.
“Leave it open.”
She threw out double bird signs with her fingers and waved them around. She wanted to scream in rage at the injustice of it all. Why her? Why him? How had her life gotten so out of control she was practically kidnapped?
Her head shook, jaw clenched. She’d taken off the sports bra when his voice sounded right behind her.
“Your bag is out here when you’re ready for it.”
She covered her breasts as best as she could and glanced over her shoulder. Her words were sarcastic at best. “Nice of you.”
He didn’t move, as if he enjoyed putting her off balance. She stepped into the cold spray with her boy shorts on, only taking them off once she’d closed the curtain. She tossed the sodden underwear on the floor with a splat.
When he said nothing, she quickly washed up using the minuscule bar of soap the cheap motel offered. The equally tiny towels were in reach but barely covered her. She couldn’t imagine how they would cover the man in the other room.
She flipped on the hair dryer and dried her wig and hopefully her hair underneath.
Wrapped up tight in the towel, she stepped out of the bathroom only to find the man sitting in a chair as if waiting for her. She ignored him and opened her bag. The tampon box made yet another appearance, but this time she set it aside. She pulled out a clean sports bra and boy shorts, mirror images of the ones she’d taken off.
“Why do you wear sports bras when you have tits like that?”
She bit her lip and held back a scathing retort. Fighting with the lumberjack so far had helped her exactly none of the time. “That’s none of your business.”
He said nothing else. She also grabbed a pair of shorts and a tank. She didn’t have much, and this would have to do to sleep in. The air conditioning had frozen the room. And she would have preferred to wear the yoga pants. But unless she wanted to reveal her gun, she couldn’t pull them out.
Ride or Die (Devil's Edge MC #1) Page 7
