Ender stood there and watched her defiant jaw move, only to focus on her lips instead.
“Where are you going to stay? With Rocky?”
“Humph,” she huffed, knowing her dad’s wife wouldn’t give her water if she was dying of thirst.
Ender nodded. “Your mom’s?”
She glanced away. She hadn’t spent two minutes with her crack addict of a mother and didn’t understand the cross country trip to wish her ass a happy trip to hell. Then again, whatever Rocky wanted, Rocky got. Which was why she hadn’t completely forgiven him for parceling her off to other parents and pretending he was her uncle and not her father. But then, their relationship was a complicated one.
“So we go to Poet’s?” he asked, using Taylor’s road name.
“Why?” she said, sounding more petulant than she wanted. She’d just given him the kiss off in front of the club. Surely, he wouldn’t want her for a house guest.
Ender’s fingers chucked her chin up to stare into his stormy eyes. “Because I live there too and now that you’ve basically cut off his balls in front of the club, I’m free to fuck the hell out of you.”
29
Ender’s words found their target as her center clenched with anticipation. Hadn’t she wanted this since the beginning?
The door banged open and they turned to watch Taylor stride out the door. Ender’s hands fell away and he stepped back. Her eyes narrowed and she knew nothing could ever happen between the two of them if he would always see her as Taylor’s property.
“Pipe,” Taylor said, his jaw tight with, his eyes laser focused on the woman Ender planned to claim.
“Don’t bother with pretty words. I’m not the girl you screwed over all those years ago.”
Taylor folded his hands as if searching for divine intervention. “Please, just listen to me.”
“Why? Everything you say is just another pretty lie. Is that why they call you the Poet?”
His hands dropped to fist at his sides. “I didn’t lie to you when I told you I loved you.”
Ender couldn’t help the frown that formed as he listened to his best friend.
Taylor glanced at Ender, who was no doubt surprised he said the words. But seeing Piper again stirred something inside him.
“Love,” she mocked. “You don’t know shit about love. And if screwing anything that moves is your brand of love, I don’t want it.”
She moved to stand next to Ender as if he would protect her. She placed a hand on Ender’s bicep and glared at Taylor with a hate she felt.
His eyes shifted to Ender, who didn’t move. What the fuck? Taylor thought.
“It’s been a long day. I’m going to take her home,” Ender said.
Ender was the poster boy of loyalty, but fuck Taylor sideways if they didn’t look cozy.
He laughed nervously. “Is there something going on with you two?”
Piper sneered at him. “Yeah, if you call fucking something. Then yes. So back the fuck off.”
“Piper,” Ender warned.
He stepped over to Taylor, blocking his view of her. Their conversation was hushed and Piper couldn’t hear.
“It’s not like that. I brought her here for Rocky…and for you. But she’s given you her cut. Let her go. It’s not like you ever wanted her, love or not.”
“So you’re going to fuck her now?” Taylor hissed.
Ender gritted his teeth. “She’s free range. Whatever happens, happens.”
“And that’s how it is now. You’re choosing a chick over a brother.”
“Like I said, it’s not like that,” Ender barked, not caring if Piper could hear. “She gave you the cut back. She doesn’t belong to you anymore.”
“Yeah, we’ll see about that, brother. I think that’s a discussion for church.”
Ender closed his eyes as Taylor yanked the club door open and stormed inside. There would be no fucking Piper tonight. He heard her footsteps as she march around to face him.
“So that’s it, huh? Taylor makes a claim, and I have no say in my own destiny.”
“Not here. Let’s go.”
She let her teeth show. “Now that sounds promising.”
He wasn’t going to argue with her here. The longer they stayed, the more likely that someone else would appear. Someone like Rocky, and all his options would be removed.
Marching her over to his bike, he got on without ceremony and expected her to jump on behind him. When she did, he allowed himself a moment to relax as her arms circled around him. The anticipation of burying himself balls deep inside her had his muscles coiled tight. Especially since that eventuality was delayed. And why? Because his best friend wanted his girl back and that could never happen unless Taylor forced Ender to choose between the brotherhood and her.
Like a demon, he rode to the house. Pulling up in front of a small ranch, he parked and waited as Piper hopped off.
She took in her surroundings. The neighborhood reminded her so much of the one she grew up in with the parents who raised her. In the driveway sat a beast of a car. It had muscle and everything that spoke of the man before her. It certainly wasn’t Taylor’s.
“Is this yours?” she asked.
He ran a loving hand over the hood. It was obvious that he was capable of that emotion even if it was only for inanimate objects. It was a 1970 Charger and she bet it purred like it had just come off the assembly line.
Ender, a man of few words unless it was necessary, let his hand do the talking. He stroked the car on the way to the front door. Inside, he stood, letting Piper get her fill of the place. It wasn’t a mansion. Though he didn’t think she’d expected one. Piper hadn’t shown that she was in any way materialistic. Still, he watched as she devoured the room with her eyes.
“Nice place,” she said.
It was a small three-bedroom home with enough space for him to eat, sleep, and store his stuff. He strode past her in the living room kitchen area headed for the back hall and took a left. He stopped in front of the extra bedroom.
“You can stay here.”
The door opened under his hand and he held it against the frame as she stepped in.
“Is this your room?” she asked, eyeing his body up and down.
She was so ready for him to make good on his promise.
“No. Mine’s across the hall and Taylor’s room is down there. He pointed to the opposite side of the house.”
Her mood soured at the mention of that name. She didn’t care. Wanting to touch him, she stepped forward, making a move to line her body up to his. Only he stepped back.
“No can do tonight. I have to get back.”
She glared up at him with a stubborn tilt to her chin. “Why?”
“We’ve got a town hall tonight.”
Town hall was a misnomer. The club was no town, but whatever, she thought. It meant club business was being discussed.
“Is it about me?”
He shrugged, not planning to tell her anything. She may have been the club president’s daughter, but she wasn’t a member.
Piper wasn’t stupid. She shoved at his chest, backing him into the hallway behind him.
“He doesn’t own me. My father doesn’t own me,” she spat. “And you don’t own me. Fuck you.” She whirled around but then whipped back. “Better yet, fuck yourself.”
Huffing and puffing like an angry wolf, she stepped into the room and slammed the door in his face. She pulled off the backpack he’d given her before they entered the house and plopped on the small full-sized bed.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, reminded by her little tantrum why he didn’t have an old lady. Then again as he adjusted himself, he had to admit her tirade was also hot as shit and his desire to have her hadn’t dulled. Brothers, however, came first, his dick a close second.
30
The room felt like a cave even though ambient light streamed through a decent-sized window. She just felt caged. And dammit, she wouldn’t remain under Ender’s thumb any longer. She h
ad a job to do and wouldn’t be able to accomplish that until she set things right with her mom.
But before that, she had to set some things straight. She gathered her bag and headed for the front door of the small house. She grinned inwardly, wondering what he would do once he found her gone.
She stopped herself and retraced her steps. There was one thing she needed to do first. Somewhere on her person or in her things, Ender had placed some sort of tracker. That was the only way he could have been able to find her all those times.
Unzipping her backpack, she dumped the contents on the bed that dominated the room besides a small dresser that flanked it. She didn’t have much. So she took the time to feel her clothes. She didn’t think he would have sewn something into the seams, but she wouldn’t put anything past him. The clothes were fine.
Out came the tampon box and all of the wrapped packages inside. Nothing and each one appeared free from tamper. What she did find was that her gun was missing. When had he accomplished that? Fucker. He’d left her defenseless. Ultimately, she found nothing. She repacked her bag and began to undress. It wasn’t until she got to her bra that she found the little piece of electronics that helped him find her at every turn. Setting it on the dresser after she redressed, she left out the front door without a glance back.
At the sidewalk, she turned the opposite way they entered the street. Several blocks down, she caught sight of what appeared to be a busy street. From there he caught a cab back to the shop.
The front entrance looked empty as she pulled up, but she knew better. After paying the cabbie, she walked down the short alley to the side door. She jerked it open and strolled inside like she owned the place.
Heads of the lesser members rose, the ones not holding court meandered out in the common area. She ignored them and headed straight toward the double doors.
A guard sat outside and held up a hand. “No can do, sweetheart, members only.”
Before he could blink, she’d trust her palm up, aiming at the bottom of his chin until his teeth clapped together so hard he careened back into the wall. As he teetered dazed on his feet, she didn’t wait for his brothers to come to his rescue. She entered the sanctum, aiming a gun she’d found carelessly in Taylor’s room.
Men started to get to their feet until she waved the gun around, pointing at each one in turn. “Don’t bother to stand. I’m no lady.”
“Priscilla,” Rocky said.
“Don’t call me that,” she barked, moving around the room until a wall was at her back and on either side and she had a clear line of sight to the doors she entered.
As prospects and hangers-on began to pour in, she added, “This is a closed door meeting.”
The men at the door turned to face her father for what to do. Rocky gave a nod and they backed out as one, closing the doors behind them.
“Piper,” her dad tried again for calm she wouldn’t give him. “What is this about?”
She huffed out a laugh. “About? I’ll tell you what this is about. This isn’t the 1800s. No Tom”—she pointed at Rocky—“Dick”—she pointed at Taylor—“or Harry”—she pointed at Ender—“is going to tell me who I can sleep with. If I want to sleep with Dick or Harry”—she pointed back at Taylor and Ender—“that’s my choice. Have I made myself clear? No. One. Owns. Me.”
One of her half-brothers, who’d never acknowledged her, spoke up, “Are you going to let her do this?” His question was aimed at their shared father.
“Dirt, stop,” her other half-brother Jack said.
She didn’t wait for her father to answer. “Go ahead and answer Jack and Beanstalk, your precious sons who’ve never given me the time of day as if it was my fault you stuck your dick into Tricks and made me. They can both go climb and fuck themselves.”
“Piper,” Rocky growled, starting to lose his patience with his errant daughter.
“What? I never asked for any of this shit. I was blissfully ignorant of who you were until you came around, then sent him into my life.”
She pointed accusingly at Taylor.
“I didn’t want this life for you either. Which is why I sent you to live with my sister,” Rocky tried, knowing he failed at getting her to back down.
“No, you sent me away because your bitch wife didn’t want the evidence of your infidelity in her face.”
Her dad’s face became a stone wall and for a second she wondered if maybe she’d gone too far. “It wasn’t her I cheated on.”
That news stunned her as well as her brothers. But everyone else glanced away as if they didn’t want to let on that they knew. Screw that, she thought. She didn’t care.
Rocky continued, “If I didn’t care about you, Piper, I wouldn’t have sent Poet to protect you.”
The laugh she let escape held no humor. “Protect. Funny, I don’t think protection was on his mind when he whispered how much he loved me and took my virginity a day after my seventeenth birthday. Yet while he was fucking me, he was fucking everyone else. And had the nerve to claim me after I turned eighteen but only because you found out. The club whores were sure to fill me in once they lost their shot at him.”
Silence wasn’t golden. Rocky’s glare at Taylor could have melted stone.
“I—” Taylor began.
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up,” Rocky warned. Then he turned his attention back to his daughter. “You’ve made your point. Are we through here?”
“One more thing. I’ll see Tricks like you want me to. But after that, I want nothing to do with you and your band of bastards. Don’t come looking for me. Don’t contact me.”
She headed for the door, giving them all her back.
“Where do you think you’re going?” her dad growled.
Over her shoulder, she said, “To find Joe.”
Someone dumb asked, “Who’s Joe?”
With her hand on the knob, she said, “You know. Any old Joe Schmo on the street will do. Because it’s my choice who I screw.”
She pushed through the doors as the guy she’d taken down on the way in glared at her. She didn’t blame him. Her steps never faltered as she made her way out the side exit. One of the long line of Hogs caught her attention. She wondered if Taylor had changed. She easily found the spare key he always left hidden in a false bottom of the saddlebag compartment.
It had been a while, but she fired up the engine after walking the bike out of the neat row. Then she was off. Her time was limited. The guys would come running, knowing that no one had left that had access to a motorcycle. Still, she relished the feel of air on her face. It was different riding free, unencumbered from Ender at her front.
The drive wasn’t long. Rocky had set up Tricks close to him. Hell, she’d driven by the place many times over the years, never with enough nerve to stop. But that had all changed. She wasn’t the scared naïve teenager she’d once been. Plus, once she got this business done, she could be on her way.
31
Everyone had heard it in the silence after she left. The sound of an engine firing to life had everyone on their feet and out of their chairs. Poet was the only one who wore a bigger expression of shock. Thunderous footsteps followed Ender in his wake. But it was too late. Piper had indeed hijacked a bike. And it was Taylor’s.
“Fuck,” Poet barked.
Ender knew Taylor kept a spare key and apparently Piper did too.
“Poet,” Rocky barked. “Leave it. Ender, find her.”
“What the fuck? I have somewhere to be,” Taylor complained, but added, “Business,” with a knowing look at Rocky, who nodded.
Ender handed Taylor his keys, because he had a spare bike on site. It was a project he’d been working on. And he’d finished it before his trip. He would rather Taylor borrow his regular ride than the classic he’d reworked.
“Thanks,” Taylor said.
Shit still had to be worked out between them. But the meeting was over for now. Taylor snagged the keys and took off before any of his brothers could give him shit for not contai
ning his woman. Or whatever the fuck she was to him. He didn’t know how he felt. He had loved her once. But she’d gone all kamikaze on him. She didn’t want to be like the other chicks and keep her sweet ass safe and do what she was told. No, she wanted to live in a man’s world. Plus, he hadn’t exactly been straight with her from the beginning. He should let her go. But fuck, Ender? He didn’t like pussy with big tits, and Piper had a rack on her. Only he had to table that shit for another day.
Ender watched as Taylor peeled off like he had the shits and needed a toilet.
“What have I missed?” Ender asked.
They hadn’t had a chance to fully update him on the goings on because he’d been reporting on his travels when Piper had shown up.
“Poet is playing up his strengths. He’s getting us intel at Lookie Lou’s.” It was a stripper bar they silently owned interest in. It was in an area that bordered a rival club.
“Has shit gone south there?”
Their rival had been making noise of late about expanding their territory in the neutral zone set up in a treaty before Rocky took over from the former head of their club.
“Not yet. But there’s been talk. Poet’s using that pretty mug of his to discreetly see if any of the girls have overheard anything.”
“No backup?” Ender asked.
Taylor was more than a pretty face. But sending him in alone to a club that was closer to the enemy didn’t seem wise.
“He’s got his guns and his words. The latter might be more deadly.”
Rocky eyed Ender. He trusted his Sergeant at Arms with his life, but he didn’t think he gave Poet as much credit as he deserved. Hell, he should kill Poet for talking his way into his daughter’s bed. But she’d made her point, and Poet wouldn’t be living that one down anytime soon.
“Go make sure Piper doesn’t get into any trouble.” He paused. Just as Ender started to turn, he added, “And, Eric?” Ender stared at Rocky. The guy didn’t often call him by his given name. “She’s right. She has a right to choose. And I’ll stand by her choice.”
Ride or Die (Devil's Edge MC #1) Page 16
