Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC

by Kiki Leach

  “Yeah.” River nodded at him, then turned to Tiny before leaving them alone to talk.

  Chapter Fifteen

  After returning to the front of the club, River found Mia and Avery sitting around what amounted to a small, square picnic table at the front of the room right alongside his own daughter and mother, Jolene. He stopped in his tracks when he got a good look at all of them talking and laughing together and something inside of him shifted, rocked him straight down to the center of his goddamn core. Something he couldn’t quite explain to himself even if he fucking tried.

  Blue walked up and stood beside him, grinning. “Looks like your bitch is fittin’ right the fuck in with 'em already, motherfucker,” he said. “Ebony and ivory, yeah? You should be proud.”

  River's eyes shifted across the room and he frowned when they landed on a familiar woman sitting all by her lonesome at a table in the corner. "Shit. She’s fittin’ in better than the bitch you've been tryin' to wife up since yesterday, asshole," he said. "What the fuck is she even doin' here? I told you that this shit was supposed to be about the old ladies and the kids only so that Mia and her kid could get to know the 'classier' bitches of the bunch. Club bitches are reserved for after hours. Motherfuckers ain’t even had their goddamn eggs yet.”

  "Chill, Riv. I heard what the fuck you said, all thirty-somethin’ goddamn words of it. But this one's on her way to bein' Old Lady material soon enough too," he said. "Soon enough. 'Sides, she promised me a goddamn lap dance and a good, long and hearty fuck with her and another bitch of my choosin' if I let her come up here. No way in fuck was I passin' that shit up, brother. One of us has gotta keep gettin’ laid for the sake and integrity of the club." He looked over at the girl and waved. She tossed her flaming red hair behind herself, spit the gum in her mouth out onto an empty plate, and smiled. "Jesus, look at those tits. Bitch is fuckin’ ripe like a pair of fresh melons in the goddamn produce department at Sacks.”

  River rolled his eyes so far up into his goddamn head, he was hoping they’d get stuck, and grinded his teeth. "How'd the fuck she even find out about this thing today anyhow?"

  "Said somethin' about Courtney tellin' her last night."

  His shoulders dropped and he groaned. "Christ." He jammed his fingers into the corners of his eyes and scrunched his face to relieve himself of an impending, raging headache. "I forgot I mentioned it to that bitch last night so that she wouldn't think about comin' up here today and startin' a scene."

  "You were with her last night?" he asked.

  "Yeah. She came by after I got home and we--"

  "Fucked." He smirked. “How’d she find out where the fuck you live?”

  Just then, Styx passed them both and headed over to the table to greet Mia and Avery, who seemed to take more of a liking to him than she had to River; or so he had assumed.

  Blue could practically see the steam coming out of River’s ears as he glared at them; from the look of life in Mia’s eyes to the smile on her face as she stared up at him, nothing about this shit was going to end well for anybody. And Blue knew that truth better than most.

  “Yo, uh… you think Styx’ll ever be ready to become an actual member of the club, brother?” asked Blue.

  “I don’t fuckin’ know,” replied River, his eyes hard on Mia; he kept them there for so goddamn long, it was almost as if she could feel him burning two small holes into the back of her neck as she ran her fingers through her hair. “The shit that went down with his old man is the only reason Wolf even bothers keepin’ him around.”

  “His old man was a goddamn rat who betrayed the club. Motherfucker went against every goddamn rule and regulation he himself helped to set in place when he turned ‘em over to the fuckin’ Feds. I get Wolf wantin’ to help him out and his mother too, ‘cause they didn’t have a goddamn thing to do with that shit. But who’s to say this motherfucker ain’t in fact cut from the same goddamned cloth?”

  “Who’s to say?” River forced himself to turn away from Mia and stared down at Blue. He arched a brow and crossed his arms. “Sure as fuck didn’t used to be you, motherfucker. Why the sudden flip?”

  Blue shook his head and turned his eyes back to Styx. “No fuckin’ reason in particular. I’m just sayin’, maybe the issues you’ve always had with him regardin’ the club are valid. Maybe he should take a walk instead.”

  “Motherfucker, why don’t you go and take a goddamn fuckin’ walk right over there to Mia’s table. Tell her I need to talk to her about somethin’ important,” he said.

  “You’re not tellin’ her this shit about Fontaine--”

  “Just do what the fuck I asked without givin’ me any goddamn lip about it, asshole. Thanks.”

  Blue stood back and sighed heavily while nodding. “Alright, VP, yeah.” He pat River on the back and moved over to the table, just as Styx headed off to the opposite side of the room to sit with his own mother, Trucker and Eightball.

  River’s eyes moved over to him, before sliding right back over to his own table, and in particular, Mia.

  He watched as Blue greeted Jolene, or ‘Cher’ as she was often called by the brothers due to her long black hair, height and slim build, by giving her a warm hug and kissed the top of Madison's head while teasing her about the giant curls of her wild blond hair, which contrasted greatly with her muddy brown eyes. He smiled at a playful Avery, who seemed more than distracted with Madison’s cell phone, then directed his attention over to Mia and mumbled something to her while glancing over her head at River.

  After a few seconds, she turned to look at him, said what looked like a 'thanks' to Blue, then got up and hurried across the room. River straightened his posture, held back his dick and sucked in air the second she approached him. Jesus, was this bitch beautiful; like a goddamn, motherfucking angel sent straight down to him from heaven itself. If God was in fact real, this bitch was more than the evidence he needed to prove it. The more people told him just how much he wanted to be all up inside her, so fucking deep until his brain completely slipped out of his goddamn head, the truer it became.

  "Hi," she said, her soft voice as pure as a goddamn bowl of sugar cane.

  He licked his lips, wondering if she tasted just as sweet as he imagined. "Hey." He nodded toward the table. "How'd the hell you two get stuck sittin' with Madison and my mother?"

  "Verna introduced us. They seem really nice and your daughter is a hell of a lot smarter than I ever was at that age. I can see why she was accepted to an Ivy League school.”

  "Like I said, she doesn't get any of the smarts from me."

  She closed one eye and scrunched her face as she stared up at him. "You know, you really shouldn't do that."

  "What's that, doll?"

  "Put yourself down like that. I told you before that you don't give yourself enough credit for the type of person that you are and the kind of influence you have over people. Being able to convince someone of something that you believe in is a kind of power that not many people have, but one so many often wished they possessed."

  "You one of 'em wishin' you possessed that kinda power for yourself, babe?" he asked her.

  She dropped her head back and smiled. "No."

  "Your old man?"

  "He already has it," she said. "So I guess he wished for it and it came true for him. Or he prayed for it. Either way, I think his influence on the church is about as equal to your influence on this club and its members."

  River leaned back from her and lifted his head. "You think so?"

  “You’re the one who pointed out the similarities to me the other night.” She grinned. “Speaking of which, Blue mentioned that you wanted to talk to me, I'm assuming about Ricky?"

  "Yeah, darlin'. Let's take a walk outside for a second." He wrapped a hand around her arm and turned her toward the door. Once they were outside and across the parking lot, River moved in front of her and folded his arms. "You ever hear of the Dragon Lairs MC?"

  "Um... yeah, vaguely. When I was doing research on Rick
y, their name popped up a few times in relation to his. Why?”

  "They're a low level club out in Vegas that your boy used to have some tight connections to, mostly 'cause he could get 'em to do whatever the fuck he wanted, when and how, and railroad 'em at the same fuckin' time. Apparently, they want in on takin' him down after some bad blood got between 'em a few years ago, and now they're on their way here this weekend to work out the details of how they actually wanna fit into all of this. I'm not too sure about it, but I agreed to hear 'em out, and..." He let out a deep and heavy sigh. "I may be fuckin’ myself up the ass here by askin’ you this and liable to have my balls chopped off by the members of my own goddamn club.”

  “What is it?” she asked, her voice faltering as she became nervous.

  “This shit's unconventional as fuck but I feel like I’ve got no other goddamn choice.” He allowed a beat to pass and shut his eyes. “I plan to meet one on one, or one on two with their club’s Prez and VP. And I wanna have you at my side while I hear out what they've gotta say."

  She guffawed. "What?" Her eyes went wide and she took a step back. "Are you serious – Why?"

  "'Cause I gotta feelin' once they see you there and with me, any chance they might have to lie'll be tossed right out the goddamn window before they even open their fuckin’ mouths."

  “You’re so sure of that?” she asked him.

  “Nope.”

  She blew out a load of air between her lips and rattled her head. Was this real life? "This sounds crazy. Are you crazy?”

  "Some days, darlin’, yeah, I think I just might be. And this might even be one of ‘em. But fact is, if I wanna protect you and your girl, as well as my club from fallin’ down any further into a goddamn sinkhole, I gotta be able to trust the people I'm workin' with."

  "And you trust me?"

  He hesitated before answering and stared straight into her face. "I trust you'll help me get the truth out of 'em just by bein' there better than any of those motherfuckers who'd try to beat the piss out of 'em for thinkin' a ‘hello’ means they’re full of fuckin' shit."

  "Wow. And you said the club can come after you for something like this?" she asked him.

  “We’re a goddamn brotherhood,” he told her. “Bringin’ in outsiders to help take care of our business with certain motherfuckers ain’t somethin’ this club has ever been about. We know every motherfucker that comes in and we shoot to kill every motherfucker that tries goin’ out for any other reason aside from the one he knows he should have. And darlin’, you’re so goddamn far outside that equation and the lines we’ve set around ourselves that it scares the absolute shit out of ‘em.”

  “But not you.”

  “No.”

  “Why?”

  He chuckled. “I don’t even fuckin’ know. Maybe if I did, I wouldn’t be out here askin’ for your goddamn help in the first fuckin’ place.”

  "YO, RIV!" Blue stuck his head out of the door and called out to him. "Prez and Verna are ready in here with the food."

  River nodded and watched Blue slink back inside the club.

  Mia dropped her head, then slowly turned her eyes back up to River and parted her lips to speak. "Why do you feel like you can trust me?"

  River slowly shook his head; yet another question he couldn’t answer for himself. He didn't know why the fuck he felt as if he could trust her even above the members of his own goddamn club, members whose moves he knew before they even made them, members whose minds he knew even better than his own. And he knew what it could cost him in doing so, he knew the risk he was taking in bringing her into the fold like this despite Wolf’s warning against her even knowing what the hell was up. But even then, even knowing that he could be fucked beyond belief for doing it, he didn't care. He just... didn't fucking care.

  Mia wrapped her arms around herself, still unsure of what the hell to think and how to take in everything he had said. "So this weekend is when they're coming?"

  "Yeah, I've um... They'll be here on Saturday and that's when I plan to have your shit auctioned off, like I told you. Verna can bring you and Avery down to my house, and we'll get shit squared away then."

  "Okay. I just...” She moved in closer to him and his cock, which was already on the verge of rising the minute they were alone again, started losing its goddamn, fucking mind inside his jeans. Jesus, why the fuck did she have to smell so goddamned good on top of everything else? “I want you to be okay,” she said. “Which means I don't want you to get into any trouble with your club by involving me in this more than you should."

  "Darlin’, you let me handle that shit, alright? Whatever the fuck it comes down to, whatever the fuck I gotta put up with when it comes to these assholes, I’ll deal with it, and I’ll deal with them. Come on, let’s head back inside.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Once River walked me back into the club and over to the table to rejoin his mother and daughter, he greeted them both and nodded at Avery, then headed over to the bar to meet with Blue and a few others.

  "So," started Jolene. She visually scanned me from my head right down to my flats as a small smile ticked up the corners of her mouth, and a flash of something that I couldn't seem to quite put my finger on shined bright in her deep, chestnut colored eyes. "What were you and my son talking about out there that couldn't be said in front of the rest of us?"

  "The weather," I told her.

  "Bullshit." She sat back and crossed her arms over her stomach.

  I glanced over at Avery, who briefly looked up from Madison's phone and stared between us. "Erm," I started. "Do you mind not saying things like that in front of her? It's just that she has a tendency to repeat a lot of things that she shouldn't, and that word is one of them."

  "Sure, honey, I'll mind my Ps and Qs in front of your young one. I remember what it's like to have one her age in the house."

  "With Madison," I said.

  "And the big one over there too." She nodded toward the bar and when I peeked over my shoulder to glance at River, he was already staring at me. God, his glare was so terribly intense. And the longer he kept his eyes on me, the more I started to feel certain things I knew I shouldn't have been feeling so damn early in the morning, and certainly not around other people, like my child. And his child. And his mother. I turned back toward the table and smiled at Jolene as she continued eyeing me as if she was some kind of cat with the wing of a canary caught between her teeth. "River never told me how you two actually met," she said.

  "Oh... well... um..." I swallowed hard and looked between Avery and Madison, who had suddenly become so wrapped up in whatever was happening on the phone, it was almost as if we weren't even there with them.

  "Hon?" Jolene said, recapturing my attention. "How did you meet my son? He's yet to mention a word about it and trying to get him to talk about something outside of the club is like trying to pull teeth from a day old baby."

  I shrank my shoulders and smiled. "It's complicated, honestly. So much so that it's probably a conversation better left for another time."

  She eyed me up and down again and widened her smile. "We'll get to it soon enough, then," she told me.

  And right then and there, I wanted to physically combust. Never in all my life had I gulped as hard as I did in that moment. And it wasn't even what she said, more like the somewhat expressive yet peculiar way in which she had said it. It absolutely terrified me.

  "Alright." We turned to the front of the room as Wolf stepped up to speak to everyone. Verna moved up and stood beside him like the queen standing beside her king as he addressed his royal subjects. "I just wanna thank everybody for bein' able to come out here today, and my VP for settin' this shit up in the first fuckin' place."

  "Oh, boy," I muttered. When Madison saw the expression of horror on my face due to the constant swearing, she quickly reached inside her purse for a set of pink and purple earbuds, jammed them into the head of her phone and placed the buds inside Avery's ears. She flipped up the volume and I mouthed h
er a quick 'thank you'. She replied back with a smile.

  "I used to do that all the time," said Jolene, winking as she leaned into me.

  "You know," Wolf continued, "we don't get to have too many days like this anymore. Not like we used to, which is a goddamn fuckin' shame considerin' how close this club once was. So it's nice when we can come back to this place we've called home for over three goddamn decades now." He smiled down at Verna and wrapped his arm around her waist. "And even better when we've got another reason for it." His eyes quickly shot over to me and my entire body went completely stiff. "And here's our reason." He pointed at me with the head of his beer. "This is Mia," he said. "She's a... new/old friend of River's. Stand up, darlin' and let everybody see that pretty face."

  My stomach dropped as every single person in the room turned to look at me like I was some kind of leper. I literally held onto the edge of the table as my legs and knees wobbled and lifted myself up from the chair to mutter a quick, 'Hi' to every curious face in the room before dropping back down. They all responded with a collective 'Hey' before turning their attention back to Wolf.

  He continued on and mentioned a few more things about the club, and family, before Verna announced that the food was getting cold. Before long, nearly every woman in the room, with the exception of myself and Jolene, got up and followed her off to the kitchen, while every man continued to sit back, drink beer, laugh and talk with each other.

  I leaned into her and asked, "What the hell's going on?"

  "They're all preparing to serve their men, and by extension, their children, honey," she told me.

  I shoved my brows together and sank down a little in my chair. "What?"

  "Whenever we have these kind of get together at the club, the men usually sit around and wait to be served by their old ladies. This is like their home and we have to treat it as such." She pressed her hand on her chest and with a bit of pride said, "But I'm nobody's Old Lady, never have been, never wanted to be." She tilted her head. "Except maybe one time in my life, but that was long before River was even born." She nodded toward him. "But he's gotta be served here just like everybody else, so Madison took it up at an early age. Before she came along or was old enough to even carry a plate, it was the job of whatever random woman he was sleeping with at the time."