I slipped his off next. For a few moments, we sat still, staring at each other. I really saw Gabriel’s tattoos for the first time. My eyes bounced around his body, racing over the black script on his ribs to the skull on the inside of his forearm. But the most noticeable one of all was a set of stylized wings over his chest.
Like an angel.
I kissed him there and once again on his left pectoral, right above his heart. Our bodies slid together, alternating between cool and hot, tingling and fevered. His mouth came to rest on my collarbone and fell down to my cleavage, licking a wet trail along my skin. I slid my breasts out of my bra just enough for his tongue to lash against my nipples, making me gasp and shiver.
“I want you,” he said so gently it was like a breath.
Part of me felt like I was slipping away, floating above my own body as I unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them off leg-by-leg. But there was a different part, a larger part, that was more awake than I’d ever been, more alive, and seeking to go diving and sucking and licking into everything that Gabriel was giving me.
Somehow, he got on top of me again, pinning me against the bed. My bra and panties joined his crumpled jeans and boxers on the floor. My face burned, and I was afraid to look at him, but I could feel him throbbing between my legs.
“Is this okay?” he whispered, brushing the tip against my wet slit.
I reached down and gripped his shaft. My stomach heaved, my surprise at how large and hard he was. I gave my answer in a kiss and guided him into my pussy.
He made a growling sound in his throat the moment his cock plunged into my cavity. “Oh, god,” I heard him say. Then, he was fucking me, his body moving like the pistons of his motorcycle engines. I let him pound away at me, obliterating all of my senses except for the ones reacting to him. Pain, pleasure, heat. Each thrust was interjected with a deep, probing kiss that left me breathless and wanting more.
I raked my nails lightly across his back. It had been so long since I’d been with a man, and a man I might’ve had feelings for on top of that. Hearing his voice in my ear made something in my chest swell up. I locked my arms around his neck.
“Give it to me, Gabriel,” I whispered. I laced my fingers through his hair, held his head to my neck as he lost himself, fucking me.
Finally, he jerked himself out of me and came. I raised myself on my elbows and watched his seed spread itself across my stomach. There was a thin sheen of sweat on both of our bodies when he collapsed at my side, heaving.
I turned my head to the side to see him. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew we didn’t have a lot of time. There was Anna and True North to deal with. Dash. The FBI. A storm was looming in the distance.
But right now, all I could think about was Gabriel.
* * *
We checked out the next morning. Gabriel was mostly silent on the way down the elevator. I waited in a corner of the vast marble lobby.
If I concentrated, I could still smell traces of him on my skin. It gave me a strange feeling. I wasn’t happy, but I wasn’t angry either. Confused. I just settled on the fact that I was confused.
I watched Gabriel strolling toward me after he finished checking out. His eyes were averted. He didn’t even look at me until he slid on his sunglasses. “Ready?” his emotionless mouth said to me.
I jerked back to life. “Yeah.” Finally, I realized Gabriel was just like me. I understood him. People like us couldn’t afford to feel, to be vulnerable. Then and now. Not with this mess hanging over our heads.
I made sure to give him a wide berth as I followed him to where his bike was parked.
“What the fuck?”
I strained to look around him at the parking spot. The first thing I noticed was that his Harley was lying on its side, opposite of the kickstand. My stomach soured. That was not a good sign.
Gabriel rushed to his bike and struggled to right it. One of his mirrors was missing. I found it yards away just to the side of another parking spot. I picked it up and walked it back to him.
“There’s no way this ended up all the way over there from the bike falling over. Someone must’ve knocked it off with a baseball bat,” he said.
“Or by pistol-whipping it.”
Gabriel gave me a curious look.
I knelt down by his rear tire. It was flat.
Gabriel released an aggravated, lion-like roar that startled me. He spun around and gripped his hair. “What the fuck!”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Gabriel. There aren’t a lot of things that can do damage like this.” A gun was one of them. I watched him carefully. “You know who has one.”
Gabriel stopped pacing. A look of hardened resolve passed over his face. He nodded firmly, turning his hands into fists. “Adrian.”
I did a double-take. “W-what?”
“I’m going to kill that fucker.”
I hurried over to his side. “I was talking about Dash!”
Gabriel snorted. “Dash would never do this.”
I gaped at him. “After what he did to Gloria?”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
I coughed, at a loss for words. After a moment, the only thing that came to mind was, “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“Look.” Gabriel planted both feet on the pavement. “I don’t know how they do things in Nowhere, Arizona, but out here? We don’t mess with another brother’s bike, no matter how bad things get. It’s our code. It’s our law.”
My entire body shook. I was seething. How dare you? I thought at him. He’d sneered the words “Nowhere, Arizona,” like it was nothing but a dog turd scraped against his shoe. But he didn’t know anything about where I came from, who I came from. Noah, Liam, and the rest of the Canyon City Skull Kings could’ve kicked his ass from here to Timbuktu, easily.
But before I could say any of that, Gabriel muttered something about catching a cab and stalked off.
I’m going to kill that fucker, his voice echoed in my mind. He’d been talking about Adrian. Suddenly, my pulse was pounding through my veins. I was afraid of what Gabriel might do. He didn’t seem like a violent guy, but you never knew what could happen if someone messed with a Skull King’s Harley.
Chapter 10
I found Gabriel smoking a cigarette by the casino entrance. His dark eyes watched the crawling line of taxis, but he stayed leaned against the wall.
“I thought you were getting a cab,” I said.
Gabriel shrugged. “Can’t leave my bike here. I’m trying to figure out what to do.”
It figured. Biker boys were predictable. Luckily, I’d managed to find someone willing to help us out, and he chose that exact moment to pull up to the curb in his pick-up truck.
Gabriel tossed his cigarette aside and jumped up when he realized who it was. “You!” His eyes flashed wildly, passing from him, to me, and back.
Adrian rolled down the window and strained to look at us. “So where’s this motorcycle, huh?” His face fell when Gabriel began walking toward him with the slow intent of a man on a mission to kill. “Oh, shit—”
Gabriel wrenched the passenger side door open. “What did you do to my ride, man?” he asked.
“What?”
I rushed over and placed a hand on Gabriel’s back.
“It wasn’t me! How could I when I didn’t even know where you fucking were?”
“He’s right, Gabriel.” I felt his heart pounding in his back, but its pace was slowing down. “Let’s just get the bike in the truck. Okay?”
Gabriel turned to look at me, surprising me. The fire was still in his eyes, but it was down to a smolder. For a brief second, I glimpsed the same Gabriel who had been with me upstairs in the hotel room. I shook the image out of my mind. It had only been last night, but it was like a dream.
Adrian drove us through the parking structure to where Gabriel had left his bike. I made sure to sit in the middle, between the two guys. Adrian waited in the driver’s seat and let the engine idle, leaving me an
d Gabriel to try and heave the bike into his truck bed.
“What now?” Gabriel asked after we slammed the tailgate shut.
I wiped a bit of sweat off of my forehead and put my hands on my hips. “Are you going to be nice now?”
Gabriel made a face. “Don’t do this. I’m sorry if I was an asshole earlier. It’s just that...”
Something tightened in my chest. I was reminded again of last night, and I was afraid he’d bring it up. But when he didn’t, I realized that I wasn’t afraid at all. I was actually disappointed.
“”I made a promise that I’d help you.” He lifted his chin to look me square in the face. “And I don’t break my promises. I’ll see things through ‘til the end.”
There was something temporary about his tone, like he was telling me that after “the end,” he’d be gone for good. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, so I could only nod along with him.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s get going.”
* * *
The ride back to the tattoo shop was mostly silent. Adrian kept the radio tuned to an alternative rock station, which we all pretended to listen to. I spent the time imagining that I could read the guys’ thoughts.
Gabriel was probably regretting the moment he befriended me. I glanced sidelong at him. He leaned against the window on an elbow, picking at his lips. I noticed his fingernails were a little ragged, like he had a habit of chewing them off.
Slowly, I turned my head toward Adrian at my left. His eyes were narrowed and focused on the road, but they seemed troubled. I didn’t know much about him, but I did know that he cared about his sister. Of course, Anna was in the middle of all this. She probably enjoyed everyone crowding around her, worried for her safety.
After all we’d been through, I felt like I owed Anna something. I couldn’t just ditch her in Vegas after fate worked so hard to make our paths cross. But this is the last time, I promised myself. And with a start, I realized that that was probably exactly how Gabriel felt about me.
We drove past the shop so Adrian could park in a side alley.
“You guys can chit-chat with Anna or whatever,” he said. “I think I have a mechanic I can call about the motorcycle.”
The three of us shuffled down the stairs to the basement entrance. That was when Adrian stopped suddenly, almost causing me and Gabriel to collide into him.
“What’s up?” Gabriel asked.
Adrian was frozen, staring at the door. He reached out and pulled it open about an inch before letting it fall shut again. “I could’ve sworn I locked up before I left.”
The tone in his voice made my blood freeze. Gabriel and I exchanged troubled glances. Then, with a curt nod, Gabriel shouldered past Adrian and tried the door. Without even looking, I knew he was reaching for his hidden blade. I just hoped it would be enough for whatever was waiting for us inside.
Gabriel swiftly opened the door and brandished his knife. Adrian and I followed him in.
“What the fuck?” Adrian cried.
It took a moment for me to realize what I was looking at. The entire place was trashed. Workstations were overturned, posters were torn off walls, and to top it all off, the register was still in the process of being raided. I blinked a few times, unable to believe who I was seeing.
“Larry?”
Larry jumped back from the register, his face pale. There was a wad of cash in his hands. Adrian made a strangled, outraged noise and lunged forward. I grabbed him by the back of his sweater, merely on instinct. And fortunately, my instinct was right on point. After the initial shock of being caught, Larry smirked and lifted his shirt to stuff his cash in his pocket, flashing the pistol tucked into his belt.
“What are you doing here, Larry?” Gabriel asked, lowering his knife.
Larry snickered. “I should ask you the same thing. I came by with a bunch of your cohorts to pick up something...or someone that our boss happens to be interested in.”
Adrian gasped sharply. “Anna!”
Gabriel growled. “Then, why are you still here?”
“To deliver a message.” His black, beady little eyes turned onto me. “To you, Lisbeth.”
I caught the generic, pre-paid phone he tossed at me.
Larry kept the end of his shirt hooked on his thumb so we could all see the heat he was packing. “There’s just one contact number in that phone. I’m going to walk out that door, and you are going to start counting to thirty. When you get to thirty, you hit ‘call.’ You got that, Lisbeth?”
My hands were shaking. I wrapped my fingers so tight around the phone that my fingerpads turned white. I swallowed. “Got it.”
Larry narrowed his eyes, scanning us as he backed away toward the door. He kicked it open with one foot. Then, Adrian said, “One,” and Larry turned tail and scurried up the steps. We listened to him disappearing into Las Vegas traffic.
“Call that number right. Now,” Gabriel ordered.
My fingers shook. I jabbed at the little green button and held the phone to my ear. The air stilled around me. It was as if all three of us had stopped breathing. The phone rang three times before somebody picked up.
“Li-Lisbeth?” Anna’s voice crackled through the speaker.
My gut wrenched. “Anna! Where are you?”
I thought I heard a muffled sob followed by some heavy breathing. Then, Anna half-whispered, “I’m with him!”
I heard the fear in her voice and I knew exactly who she was talking about. My eyes turned wide. The first person I looked at was Adrian. I watched him bite his lip and shake his head. Things weren’t looking very good for any of us.
“How did he find you?” I asked.
“Somebody followed you to the shop,” Anna whispered. “But that’s not important. Listen to me, Lisbeth. The Boss, he wants you. He won’t let me go unless you’re the one who comes to get me.”
“How? Am I just supposed to show up by myself?”
“Remember that story I told you yesterday?”
“What?” I frowned. Her voice sounded funny.
“The story I told you about what I’d been up to.”
I struggled to think faster. The FBI. There had been an agent working with Anna.
“I have to go now, Lisbeth—”
“Wait—”
I stared at the phone after she hung up. It wasn’t enough.
“What did she say?” Adrian asked urgently.
I righted an upturned chair and sank down into it. “We need to find the FBI agent who was working with Anna.”
“Pft,” Gabriel snorted. “Well, our only other lead is Gloria, who’s dead. Unless she told you anything.” He looked hopefully to Adrian, who shook his head.
“I don’t know any more info than you guys,” he said, his voice quivering. He fell back against a counter. “Oh, god...my sister!”
“Quiet,” I said, lifting a hand. “Give me time to think.”
“What, do you know something we don’t?” Adrian asked sarcastically.
“Shh!”
“Or maybe you have an FBI agent of your very own, like hidden away in your back pocket or something?”
I brightened. “Actually, I do. Thanks for the idea.” It was a long shot, but it was the best shot we had.
Gabriel and Adrian only regarded me with confused expressions. I turned around to fish my phone out of my backpack. The missed call from Carmen was still blinking on the screen.
Chapter 11
I paced in the back alleyway as I waited for the call to connect. Alone. For some reason, I’d wanted to be by myself when I called Carmen. Then, her voice answered after the fifth ring, and I knew why.
“Lizzie?”
“Car!” I couldn’t hold back the relief in my voice.
“What happened? Where are you?”
I smiled in spite of myself. I could just see Carmen with her hair pulled up into a messy bun, perhaps hunched over the table in the break room at Buddy’s Sports Bar. One difference I noted was that she didn’t sound perpe
tually exhausted. Ever since Logan had come into her life, things had been easier for her.
“I’m in Vegas,” I said. “Don’t ask me why. But I’m in a little bit of trouble.” Instantly, I sensed her going dark.
“True North?”
I sighed. “Yeah. And the Laughlin Skull Kings.”
“What?”
“Well, one of ‘em is here in the city, at least. And the True North presence is as strong as ever. They took my friend Anna, and they’re asking for me.”
“You want me to talk to your brother about this?”
“No. I need Logan.”
Carmen was quiet for a long time. “You sure?”
“Yeah.” And then, I explained everything that had happened, everything I knew so far. I told her that Anna had been working with some FBI agent, building a case. That she was in danger. That possibly, I was in danger too.
“I don’t know, Lizzie. Logan is working in a completely different department...”
“But he’s still got connections, right?”
Carmen sighed loudly. It was a familiar sound I’d heard many times ever since her babysitter days, when she babysat me. It meant, This is probably not a good idea, but I’ll let you do it anyway because I love you.
I smiled. God, I missed her so much. I missed everybody. A tiny seed of a thought formed in the back of my mind. What if leaving Canyon City was a mistake? But I didn’t have time to linger on it.
“I’ll talk to him and figure something out,” she said.
“Thank you!”
Before I got a chance to hang up, Carmen stopped me.
“You’re being careful, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Good. Then, take care. Talk to you soon.”
I felt guilty immediately after hanging up. I was being careful. Kind of. Normally, going with my gut was enough to survive. I’d gone with my gut when I accepted Gabriel’s invitation. He was a Skull King after all. But I’d had no idea that he was one of them. Sure, he was a good kisser and good everything else, but after seeing how he acted with Dash...
What kind of man was he, exactly? I thought I’d known all along, but it was clear that I didn’t know him at all.
Wild Child: A Skull Kings MC Novella Page 6
