BARE SKIN: A Dark Bad Boy Romance

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BARE SKIN: A Dark Bad Boy Romance Page 51

by Callie Pierce


  Several teens gasped and stepped away, and suddenly there Kyle was. She recognized the slant of his shoulders and the mop of hair that covered eyes she knew to be identical to her own. He was slim, she realized, too skinny to be healthy, and even from this distance she could see the dark rings around his eyes.

  “Kyle!” she called out. “Come on, it’s time to go home.”

  Her brother took a single step forward. The blond male shook his head. “Oh no, no. Kyle is one of mine, and he isn’t going anywhere.”

  “Mark…” Kyle started to say.

  So, Blondie had a name. Donna had expected something more sinister or maybe even exotic: Antoine, perhaps, or Xavier. Mark was the name of the boy next door, the class nerd, or the new intern. Not the name of a guy who stabbed a woman on the street.

  Mark hissed and held up one hand. “You’ve caused enough trouble, Kyle. Just shut up and let the adults handle this.”

  The sound of the gunshot echoed loudly. Guns, contrary to what Bruce Willis films showed, were loud. Donna flinched from the sound, and her ears began to ring. In the split second that her eyes had fluttered, several things happened. Kyle stepped away, Cody moved to the side, and Mark leveled a gun she hadn’t known he carried at her. The barrel was aimed at her chest, perfectly center. It didn’t waiver one inch.

  “Let’s not be stupid,” Mark said. “We both know you aren’t a hero, Cody.”

  Oh no, she thought to herself, not this. This skinny peroxide-ridden jerk had already made her feel threatened once—it was not going to happen again. Donna’s hand dipped inside her jacket. The gun felt heavy in her hands, but the weight was a comforting one. She jerked it out of the holster and took it in a teacup grip, one hand cupping the bottom of the gun, the other on the grip. Her finger wasn’t on the trigger, but rather hovering over it, waiting for an excuse to fire.

  “I am my own hero, but it’s nice to have eye candy for a sidekick,” she smirked.

  Mark’s look was surprised. “Wow. Big bad biker boy can’t control his own woman.”

  Cody snorted. “A man knows how to stand with his woman, not in her way.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Mark’s voice was incredulous. “Is this supposed to be my competition? Some pathetic lieutenant and a boardroom bitch?”

  “Drop the gun,” Donna said, keeping her voice firm.

  “No.”

  She saw the decision to fire come into his eyes. His finger slid upward at the same time that hers came down. She prepared herself to get hit with a bullet. Two explosions went off, echoing through the night. Donna braced for pain that didn’t come.

  She heard the thunk of bodies. Kyle and Mark were on the ground. There were a flurry of angry limbs and connecting punches. Donna blinked in confusion, wondering where her bullet had gone, and if the adrenaline pumping through her veins was keeping her from feeling pain. She glanced down at her body but couldn’t see any blood.

  The two men tumbled over one another. It wasn’t until Cody hit the ground that Donna understood what had happened. He’d dove in front of the bullet. The dark color of his jacket and the late hour hid just where he had been hit, but all Donna could do was wonder if she had hit him or if Mark had.

  Movement caught her attention. Kyle, no longer willing to stand in the background, was moving for the gun that Mark had dropped. He scooped it up in shaking hands and pointed it at the wrestling men.

  “Kyle, don’t!” she shouted. Her brother faltered, but the gun was still in his hand.

  Cody made a sound as Mark shoved his hand against the biker’s shoulder. Blood dripped down Mark’s hand. Cody made a growl and slammed a fist into Mark’s jaw, making his blond head snap back. He tumbled backward with the force of it. Cody was on his feet in an instant.

  “Stop it!” Kyle screamed out, his too-young voice faltering and cracking. He pointed the gun at Mark and fired.

  Donna turned her head, expecting the worst, but nothing happened. A dull click was all the gun gave, even when Kyle fired twice more. The gun was empty.

  “Kyle,” Cody said. “Go to your sister.”

  Somehow, somewhere along the line, Donna had forgotten just what Cody was to the White Tigers. She’d seen the scars on his body, heard him say the name “enforcer,” but that did not compare to seeing him in action. He moved like an animal, all swift muscles and certainty.

  He swung hard, and the sound of his fist connecting with Mark’s side was the sick wet sound of meat against meat. Mark stumbled and pulled the same knife that he had used on Donna out of his pocket. He shoved it in Cody’s direction, trying to keep the other male at bay.

  “What the hell?” he demanded over his shoulder, clearly addressing the teenagers behind him. “We outnumber him.”

  Donna waved her gun at them, but there were too many. Inch by inch they crowded closer, clearly intent on getting involved. Some pulled out blades of their own; one or two had bats. They moved like a single unit, intent on following the orders that Mark had given them.

  “Stay back!” Donna cried, but the sound was swallowed up by the roar of bikes. She didn’t look. She didn’t have to. She knew exactly who was coming to the rescue. She could, however, imagine what they saw: the full club from Carson and the next town over, all thirty members, rolling up like ancient warriors on silver horses. They hadn’t even come to a stop at Donna’s back before the teens scattered, everyone but Kyle and Mark, who wasn’t actually a teen.

  Mark faltered, stumbling back, the blade still in his hand. “Wow, so much for loyalty.”

  “Loyalty is earned,” Kyle said, throwing down the useless gun. “You tried to steal it.”

  A hand pressed down on Donna’s shoulder. She turned and saw the handsome face of Slade McGee. There were more lines than there had been when they were young, and a few scars too. He looked older, tired, and more muscular than he had all those years ago, but he was still Slade, and he was still drop-dead gorgeous.

  “Hey,” he said gently. “You all right?”

  She got the distinct impression that he wasn’t just asking about the immediate problem. His eyes looked sorry, and she gave him a look. “Yeah, I am.”

  He squeezed her shoulder and then stepped around her. “Markus Finch, you creepy little shitbag. What the hell are you doing running around with a bunch of friggin’ teenagers? They don’t got losers your own age?”

  Donna raised her brow, but it was Cody who asked. “You know this kid?”

  “Yeah,” the boss of the White Tigers said, tucking a thumb into the tactical gun holster that was barely covered by his jacket. “He’s my older sister’s kid. Stupid from the day he was born.”

  “You never let me in!” Mark cried out, suddenly looking a lot younger. He surged to his feet and closed the distance between him and Slade. Donna heard the safeties come off several guns. Slade held up one hand. “You kept me out!”

  Mark raised the blade. Slade stepped back and delivered one single punch to the other man’s gut. Mark doubled over and spilled the contents of his stomach.

  “Your mother begged me to keep you out, you idiot… and tough older sisters are hard to ignore.”

  Kyle snorted. Donna raised a brow. Cody stepped up and said, “If you want me to take care of him, boss.”

  “I ain’t your boss anymore, Bannik. Get out of here, this is club business now.” Slade jerked his thumb toward the single car that had driven up with the pack of bikes. It was Cody’s car, dusty and true. Twitch stepped out of it, holding up a set of keys.

  “But… what about the exit ceremony?” Cody asked.

  Slade glanced at Cody’s shoulder, which was clearly bleeding. “My nephew shot you. Pretty sure that covers it.”

  “The gun was empty,” Mark said.

  “I shot him,” Donna interrupted. “I didn’t mean to.”

  Slade laughed. It started off as a soft chuckle and then became a full barrel laugh that had him doubled over. Several of the other bikers joined him. Donna looked down shyly. She repe
ated that she hadn’t meant to shoot him, but she was pretty sure no one heard.

  “Ohh,” Slade said when he was finally done. “That’s even better. Go on, Cody, get out of here. Take your wild woman and her kid brother with you. We’ve got business here.”

  Donna didn’t look back at the club as she and the two best men in her life piled into Cody’s car. She didn’t have to. Whatever they were going to do, Mark deserved it. He had hurt her, and Kyle, and he’d been willing to hurt everyone else. She laid her head back on the headrest as Cody turned the key over in the ignition.

  “It was drugs, wasn’t it?” Cody asked as he navigated the car onto the highway. “He got you hooked.”

  Kyle looked away. “He used Becky to do it. She offered me a little pot when I went with her to a party. Then it just… it went from there.”

  “Anything hard?” Cody asked.

  Donna wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but she reached across the space between the two of them and took Cody’s free hand. He gripped it and brought it to his lips. Kyle nodded. He didn’t say what it had been; Donna didn’t really need to know.

  “We’ll take care of it,” she said. “We’ve got each other.”

  “Are you guys getting married?” Kyle suddenly asked. “Where are you going to live?”

  Cody laughed and kissed her fingers again. “It doesn’t matter,” he said as he took the road that would take them back to the hospital. “Maybe I’ll teach, maybe I’ll stay at the auto shop, maybe I’ll follow her to California. All that really matters… is that we are together.”

  Donna couldn’t have agreed more.

  THE END

  I hope you enjoyed the story! If you enjoyed the story, I would greatly appreciate if you could leave a review for it on Amazon. Thank you for reading!

  Callie Pierce’s Collected Works

  BAD INFLUENCE: A Dark Bad Boy Romance

  There’s no escaping his bad influence.

  He’s a devil.

  A bastard.

  A killer.

  A crook.

  He’s the last thing I need in a life already teeming with bad luck and worse decisions.

  So why can’t I stay away from him?

  From the day I was born, I’ve been surrounded by poverty and crime.

  I’ve spilled blood, sweat, and tears to claw my way out.

  And I’ll be damned if I’m about to let Cody Bannik drag me back down into that hellish realm.

  I’m on the straight and narrow, now, and I’m determined to bring my little brother with me.

  We’re going to make it out of here, Kyle and I, and no leather-clad brute is going to stop us.

  At least, that’s what I keep telling myself.

  But some quiet little voice in the back of my head is saying something different.

  It’s saying what I know to be the truth.

  You won’t leave.

  You can’t leave.

  The bad boy owns you now.

  TORMENT: A Dark Bad Boy Romance

  How delicious is pleasure after torment?

  Cobra

  I’m not proud of everything in my past.

  I’ve done a lot I regret.

  Some of those things I did because I had to.

  Some of them, because I didn’t know any better.

  But that was six years ago. Six years is a long time.

  I’m different now.

  No longer a boy. I’m a man.

  And I’m coming back to claim what’s mine.

  Ashleigh

  I’ve worked hard to put my life back together.

  He left it – left me – in utter chaos.

  No money, no job, no future.

  Just a baby to feed and long, endless hours to wonder where it all went wrong.

  I’d loved him; I really had.

  But now every thought of him is a jagged shard I can’t bear to touch.

  For six years, I’ve slaved to make a life for myself and my daughter.

  But just when things are starting to feel right again, guess who’s back in town?

  Him, of course.

  He was Alex when he left.

  Now, they call him Cobra.

  And his bite is a poison I cannot resist.

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