CARSON_Satan’s Ravens MC

by Kathryn Thomas

  “I mean, that if you think we need to pull back on the physical side of things, then that’s what we’ll do.” He shrugs, but his eyes are full of amusement. “You want more middle ground; I can do that.”

  Melissa frowns up at him, trying to figure out where the catch is and why he’s acquiesced so quickly. It takes all her strength not to completely retract what she’d said, to say to hell with it all, she wants him in her bed tonight. She swallows hard. “How much more middle ground?” Her voice isn’t quite as strong as anymore.

  “Well, that’s all up to you, ‘Mel.” Hawk smiles and leans into her so that his mouth is only an inch away from hers.

  “Is it?” He smells of soap and the warm manliness that makes her stomach do little back-flips. She licks her lips, straining her neck up towards him, to meet his mouth, to taste him, for that deep kiss that she knows will turn her insides weak.

  “I’m not going to touch you, Melissa.” He pulls away from her slightly so that she’s focusing on his eyes instead of his mouth. “I’m not going to touch you until you beg me to.” The wicked gleam in his eye turns her throat dry. “See you tomorrow, Melissa.”

  “Tomorrow?” Her voice is so husky the word is almost inaudible.

  “Tomorrow. For the car?” His expression tells her that he knows exactly what her body is going through, and he’s enjoying the power he’s wielding.

  “Right.” She doesn’t think she’d be capable of anything more than monosyllables.

  “See you tomorrow, ‘Mel.” He gives her one last look, devouring her with his eyes, before he leaves, closing the door softly behind him.

  Melissa stands there staring after him, wondering if she’d just managed to screw herself over massively. When she goes to bed, she stares up at the ceiling, knowing that she should be tired, knowing that she should be overwhelmed after the events of the day, but she’s too tightly wound. Sleep takes a while to come, and when it does, she knows that she’ll dream about Hawk.

  ***

  Melissa squirms, lifting her hips, desperate for him to touch her somewhere it will do some good. Between her legs she’s dripping wet, she moans, needing him inside of her, filling her up. She reaches out, her hand closing over his shaft. She licks her lips, wanting to taste him, wanting to suck on his tip, which she knows will be as hard as rock.

  “Not until you beg.” His voice is low and hoarse, his breath against her ear making her tremble.

  “I want you.” She reaches up to pull his head down to hers, but he stops, a few inches away from her lips, driving her mad with need. She wriggles underneath him, stroking his shaft, feeling the hardness of his erection against her hand.

  “Good girl.” He breathes approvingly. “But that doesn’t sound like begging to me.”

  “I want you inside of me.” Melissa writhes, her hand own hand dropping down to her pussy, the need between her thighs turning into a certifiable ache.

  Hawk stops the progress of her hand, tutting at her. “That’s cheating, ‘Mel.” His voice is dripping with sex, just the sound of his voice is making her wet.

  “I’m so close.” Her words come out as a plea. She needs this release, desperately, but the expression on his face tells her that he’s not going to give it to her. He’s enjoying watching how he’s turning her inside out far too much.

  “Not yet, Melissa, not yet.” His voice is soft as a whisper, and she hears her own mewling cries of desperation.

  Beep, beep, beep.

  Her eyes fly open, squinting against the early morning light streaming through her bedroom window. She slams her hand down on the snooze button of her alarm, just managing to stop herself from launching it across the room. Melissa sits up in bed, wishing she could go back in time to the point just before she’d woken up, to the point where she might have received some kind of satisfaction.

  Her body is covered in sweat, and she’s breathing hard, her heart racing. She shifts uncomfortably, knowing that her shorts are soaked through and not just from her perspiration. She’s woken feeling frustrated, her body craving pleasure and her throat dry. She slumps back into bed feeling wrung out.

  She had been the one to worry over the fact that they couldn’t be in the same room with each other without ripping each other’s clothes off. She had thought she was being the grown up, the one that was looking at the intensity of their relationship and wondering if it could last for the long term. Now, she wasn’t so sure. The one thing that she was completely sure of was that this wasn’t going to be the last of the dreams that left her feeling like she was missing something as vital to her as air.

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  Melissa spends the morning updating her blog and writing up some notes to add to her ever-expanding list for the novel that she will one day write. If nothing else, the dramas between her and Hawk were giving her some great material for her ‘someday’ book. It’s been a little while since she’d been able to focus on her writing, pretty much since things had kicked off with the Caged Kings. This was the first day she has been able to really catch her flow, and she’s so caught up in it that before she knows it she’s worked through lunch and into the early afternoon. It’s only when her doorbell rings that Melissa gets up from her desk and stretches her tight muscles. Looking out of the window she sees a familiar face wearing a grease-stained shirt advertising The Shop. True to his word, a tow truck—complete with one of Hawk’s trusted mechanics—was waiting patiently outside her house.

  “She really is a beauty.” Jesse looks at the car longingly, as Melissa hands over the keys to the Mustang.

  “Yeah, she is, or at least she will be once Hawk’s finished with her.” Melissa gives him a wry smile, knowing that Hawk has been possessive of her car, not letting anyone else work on it. Melissa had the sense that it wasn’t just because he cared for her; she was pretty sure the caliber of the Mustang had a lot to do with it as well.

  “Beautiful car for a beautiful lady.” Jesse smiles at her and winks, but there’s no hint of anything other than friendly banter in the older man’s tone. “But if you tell Ownes I said that, he’ll have my guts for garters.”

  Melissa laughs easily and holds up her hands in some semblance of a Girl Scout promise. “Your secret is safe with me.”

  She watches as Jesse gets the car all set up and ready to tow, her mind a million miles away.

  “You want a ride to The Shop?” Jesse’s voice jolts her back to the present and out of her re-visitation of the dream from the night before.

  Melissa looks at her watch, figuring she has just enough time before she goes to meet her mom. It was the first time in weeks that they had seen each other, a fact that felt intensely odd since they spoke almost every day. That evening Melissa had agreed to meet her mom’s new boyfriend, the guy that her mother had barely been able to stop talking about. She knew from her mom’s excitement that this guy could be the real deal. For her sake, she wanted it to be true. Her mom had put her life on hold for Melissa, barely dating until Melissa had left for college. Her mother had been through her fair share of dating disasters, but this was the first time that Melissa sensed that it could be more than just a way to pass the time for her mom. This could be the man that she’d been waiting for since Melissa’s dad walked out on them. Melissa just hoped that he deserved her.

  It would be tight, but there’s just enough time to stop by the shop and see how the lay of the land is looking between Wes and the guys. After their conversation by the lake the night before, Melissa has the feeling that Josh and Hawk both might have some issues reining in their distaste for their newest recruit. Sure, that’s the only reason you want to go to The Shop, Potter. It’s useless to kid yourself. She wanted to see Hawk, the rest was just a handy excuse.

  “Sure, that’d be great.” Melissa throws the mechanic a smile and locks the front door behind her before jumping into the truck.

  As they rattle along the road in the truck, Melissa tries to make conversation. She and Jesse hadn’t exchanged more th
an a few ‘heys’ and ‘how are yous’ so she had imagined that a thirty minute drive in afternoon traffic was going to be a bit of a stretch, but she couldn’t have been more wrong.

  “So, you excited about the big party?” He remains looking ahead, his weathered face squinting against the bright winter sunshine.

  Melissa frowns at him. “Big party?”

  “Hawk’s Patch Party in a couple weeks!” Jesse looks at Melissa as if she were a little dim.

  Melissa tries not to look surprised, or hurt at the fact that she’s hearing this from Jesse rather than Hawk. Jesse reads her expression and clears his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. “I’m sure he’ll be mentioning it you soon, probably just been busy. I wouldn’t worry about it.” He stares fixedly ahead, not making eye contact with her as if he thinks that she might break down in tears beside him.

  “Jesse, it’s fine.” She waves away his worry, doing an Oscar-worthy performance of not caring. “I just hadn’t realized he was getting patched so soon.” She looks out of the passenger window, trying not to obsess over why Hawk hadn’t mentioned it to her.

  “Soon?” Jesse shakes his head, as if she’d just said something really funny. “He’s officially been a prospect for a year now, but he’s really been part of the club for years before that. He’ll make a great King.” The note of admiration in his voice is unmistakable.

  “So what happens at a Patch Party?” Melissa pushes her insecurities aside, reminding herself that she doesn’t have any claim on Hawk, not really. They’d never formalized their relationship. The closest they’d gotten was Hawk calling her his when they were making love, but that had just been in the heat of the movement, hadn’t it?

  “Well, there’ll be a vote where all the full members have to agree for Hawk to become officially part of the Caged Kings MC. That’ll just be a formality though, Hawk’s in for sure.” Jesse gives her a reassuring look as if she’d gotten that far ahead in her thinking.

  “And then?” Melissa had the impression that things didn’t end there. She’d been around the bikers in the bar for long enough to know that they like to party, hard, and a new patch sounded like the perfect opportunity.

  “Then everyone gets pretty drunk.” Jesse chuckles deeply. “Well, that’s what usually happens. Hawk’s will be a little different, with what Josh has planned and all.”

  Melissa frowns at the man next to her who seemed so unassuming and yet seemed to have his finger on the pulse of exactly what was going on in the club.

  “What does Josh have planned?” Melissa raises an eyebrow, as Jesse looks quickly at her and then away again, probably trying to figure out exactly how much trouble he’s going to be in if he’s said something he shouldn’t have.

  “Damn, would you look at this traffic? I swear there are more cars in Portland every year.” He shakes his head and looks out of his window, doing a terrible job of subtly changing the conversation.

  “Jesse.” She gives him a meaningful glare, channeling Felicia’s ‘Don’t fuck with me’ stare, and it seems to do the trick, as he sighs heavily.

  “Alright, but you’re twisting my arm here, Melissa.” He shakes his head, as if he were trying to persuade himself that he doesn’t have any choice but to tell her. Melissa got the impression that he probably quite enjoyed a good gossip. Some of the bikers that she’d met were bigger chatterboxes than any group of women, especially once they’d had a couple of drinks. It made her wonder how they seemed to manage to keep their club secrets when they all liked to talk so much.

  Jesse drops his voice to a whisper, as if there were someone else in the truck to overhear them. “Josh’s going to give Hawk part of the business, part of The Shop.”

  Melissa’s smile spreads wide, as her eyes blink in shock. She’d known that Hawk was saving up to buy a share of the body shop that he loved so much, but she’d had no idea that Josh was ready to just give it away. It wasn’t hard to figure out why Josh would do that with something that he had invested his entire adult life in. Hawk was like a son to him, the son that he never had, and Hawk looked up to him. It made perfect sense that Josh would want Hawk to have part of his business.

  “Hawk might have a hard time accepting it as a gift.” Melissa smiles wryly, just imagining the good-natured argument that would break out between them; Hawk telling Josh that he wants to earn what he gets, and Josh telling him that he’s more stubborn than a mule.

  “That’s between them. They’re both as bad as each other.” Jesse chuckles, clearly picturing the same scene. As they pull into the lot in front of the shop, Jesse turns serious. “You won’t say anything, will you?”

  Melissa smiles reassuringly at the nervous man next to her. “I won’t say a word, Jesse.” She watches as his shoulders relax, wondering how many more secrets she was going to have to keep; she was starting to lose track.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The tension in The Shop is clear as soon as Melissa walks through the door. It’s as if the air itself is charged with all the things that aren’t being said. Her gaze flicks to Hawk, who is crouched over the hood of a car and doing his best to ignore Wes—who seems to be doing his best to ingratiate himself to Hawk. Josh, standing at a distance, looks on at the two of them, and the expression on his face tells her that Hawk isn’t the only one who seems to want to do some permanent damage to Wes.

  “And man, she was so fine; you should’ve seen her.” Wes is practically bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, trying to engage Hawk in a story that he clearly has no interest in. Wes had never been particularly good at reading body language, and time didn’t seem to have changed that.

  Hawk grunts something noncommittal, but it’s enough encouragement for Wes to carry on. “The girl was stacked, you know, man, curves in all the right places, and she was nasty, really nasty.” He smiles lasciviously, and Melissa feels her stomach roll. He keeps rubbing his nose, as if there’s an itch that he can’t get rid of, and his eyes can’t seem to concentrate on just one thing. “So I turned her round and she was all like, ‘No, Wes, no’ but I knew that she wanted it. You know what I’m saying? So I pushed her over the chair and—”

  “Melissa!” Josh’s voice rings out loudly from across the shop. Hawk stands up abruptly, banging the back of his head on the bonnet of the car and cursing loudly, rubbing at the sensitive spot, as he moves from glaring at Wes to smiling broadly at her. Melissa watches as Wes’s gaze swings towards her, panic in his eyes before he smoothes his features into something more neutral. “Good to see you, doll.” Josh is by her side in the matter of a few seconds, guiding her away from the two men and towards the office, closing the door behind her.

  “Am I in trouble?” Melissa looks around the office, the space where she’s used to seeing Josh agonizing over accounts. In all the times that she’s been to The Shop, she’s never seen the door closed. This was a first.

  “No, but I will be if I don’t do something about that boy in there.” Josh jerks his head outside, and it’s clear who he’s talking about. “It makes me sick that he’s still working here, shooting the shit as if nothing has happened. But I can’t just fire him; he’ll know something’s up. He might not be the sharpest tool in the box, but he’s not an idiot!”

  “We’re working on it, Josh. It’s just going to take a little time to get Wes out of here.” Melissa makes a calming gesture with her hands, something she’s been doing almost as much as she’s been keeping secrets recently.

  “We don’t have time, Melissa.” Josh gives her a meaningful stare before looking away.

  Melissa’s internal alarm system goes from orange to red. “What do you mean?”

  Josh sighs deeply, clearly about to tell her something that he doesn’t relish in the least. “There’s a deal that’s going down soon. I don’t know exactly when, but it’s going to be soon.”

  Melissa’s eyes widen, understanding the significance immediately. If a drug deal happens and Wes is there to witness it, then they’re just giving him more fodder
for his article—and not only that, it’ll be cold, hard evidence of illegal activity. It’ll be all that he needs to bury the Kings.

  “You have to tell them that they can’t do it now. They’ll have to wait until we’ve figured something out with Wes.” Melissa does her best to be practical, but Josh is already shaking his head and her voice trails off.

  “I can’t, Melissa. It’s not as easy as that.” Josh rubs his graying temples, looking more tired than Melissa has ever seen him. “All I know is that the deal is either happening here or at the bar, because that’s all I need to know. That’s why things have worked so well for the Kings for so long; everyone only knows their part in all of this. If no one knows the whole plan, then no one person can rat out the club.”

  Melissa nods in understanding. It’s an elegant system and makes perfect sense for the club to have a self-preservation tactic.

  “So what’s your part in all this?” Melissa realizes that she probably doesn’t really want to know how deep Josh is in with the less kosher aspects of the club, but the time for skirting around things has long since passed.