BREAKING THE RULES: Forsaken 99 MC

by Evelyn Glass

  “They kept me in some warehouse where someone came around the clock to beat me up.”

  I winced. Beat him up? Logan nodded like he knew, but Saul looked fine.

  “They hurt you?” I didn’t mean to sound as shocked as I did.

  Saul nodded, glancing at Logan before he pulled up his shirt. There were bruises all over his ribs and sides. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath through my nose.

  “Sorry,” he said. When I opened my eyes his shirt was back in place and I could imagine I hadn’t seen it in the first place.

  “Now that I’m leaving the Thorns we’ll need someone to take over,” Logan said, changing topic.

  Saul nodded. “No one will be you, though. No one can run this place the way you do.”

  Logan shrugged. “I get what you’re saying, and thank you, but the same was true for Elijah. I would never have been able to fill his shoes but somehow, with the help of the rest of you, I managed to make a difference nevertheless.”

  Saul nodded, not saying anything. I’d heard such great things about Elijah that I wished I could have had the opportunity to meet him. He sounded like he was a wonderful person. It must have run in the family.

  My mind wandered away from the conversation to my own life and what my future held now that everything was so different. I wasn’t just going to the outsider at the book club, with no husband and no real future. I was engaged and I had a future as a published author. It was going to take me a while to get used to the title.

  Selena Hastings, Published Author.

  No. Selena Frost. Published Author. Yeah, that sounded really nice.

  With a publishing contract, there was a chance I didn’t even have to go back to the library again. I could just quit, with immediate effect, and still be okay. Logan had a lot of money. That was becoming abundantly clear – he had a lot more money that he was letting on. Even after I realized he owned the restaurant where we’d had our first date I was still pretty sure I had no idea how loaded he was. That, plus the fact that I was going to be published now meant I could give up my day job.

  Still, I would go back and work my notice month. I would sit there, engaged, with a ring on my finger and a publishing contract pending and rub it in Alicia’s face that she may be the manager of the place but I was getting somewhere in life. I’d gotten the guy, the happily ever after. I relished the thought of her face when she found out Logan and I were engaged, that I was going places. The fact that she would just be stuck in her little office, going nowhere.

  “I’m looking forward to seeing you book in print,” Saul said, pulling me back to the current conversation. He was trying to involve me. Sweet of him.

  I nodded and smiled. “I still have to get used to the idea. It’s all a bit much to digest, what with the events of the past couple of days and the knowledge that nothing will ever be the same.”

  Saul nodded.

  Logan smiled. “I’m looking forward to riding on your coattails. Now that you’ll be bringing in the cash it will be nice just to sit back and do nothing for a change.”

  I pulled a face at Logan. Saul laughed.

  Chapter 29

  Logan

  The time came to do what needed to be done. I could postpone it for as long as I wanted but at the end I knew I was going to do the right thing. I needed to make sure the club was in the right hands, that Selena had the life she deserved and everyone was happy.

  Giving up the club was going to be hard, but I was tired of this life, tired of always being on edge. Since I’d met Selena I’d known I didn’t belong in this life anymore. I would always have my boys’ backs, and I knew they would always have mine, but at the end of the day I didn’t want to be a Thorn anymore. At heart I would always be a Fallen Thorn but it wasn’t ever going to be the same.

  I knew it would be hard but I had dealt with change before. I was good at it. And unlike all the other disasters that had taken place in my life to force change, this time it was my own choice. There was something very liberating about that.

  I stepped into the middle of the room and everyone fell silent. That kind of respect and loyalty was something I would always hold dear. I had no doubt that my men were the best kind, with honor and integrity.

  “My friends. My family. Selena and I are engaged now and in light of that I am not going to carry on my duty as the leader of the club.”

  A murmur rippled through the crowd and I smiled. They all knew we were serious but this was far-fetched even for me.

  “I am going to step down as the leader of the Fallen Thorns, effective today.”

  More murmuring. They weren’t happy but I knew they would understand, in light of what had happened earlier. Most of them had families; they all understood.

  “It had been a great run and no one could have asked for a better group of men to watch their back. You will always be the people that I hold closest to my heart.” It was emotional for a biker but I needed to get it off my chest. “I will always be here for you as I know you will be for me. I’ll only be a phone call away.”

  I felt emotional, a lump in my throat, but I swallowed it down. Emotional as it was, I wasn’t going to cry.

  “We need to decide on a new leader.”

  I looked around the group. It was going to be one of them and it had to be someone that they all wanted as their new leader. This one wasn’t up to me, but up to them.

  “Saul!” someone in the back called out. Another one copied it, and after a moment they all joined in and started chanting his name. Saul, Saul, Saul.

  I looked at him and laughed. “They’ve spoken, brother.”

  He nodded and walked toward me, leaving Selena alone at the bar. She looked as emotional as I felt.

  “Is this what you want?”

  Saul thought about it in earnest for two seconds and then nodded. “It will be an absolute honor to take up the reins. Some big shoes to fill.”

  I smiled. It was my father’s and Elijah’s but he was the man for the job. He could do what they had wanted for the place all along.

  I turned back to the men. “All in favor of Saul as the new leader, say aye.”

  “Aye!” They shouted as one man.

  They started stamping their feet and it filled the room like a muted thunder, a biker’s applause. I gave him a hug, clapping him on the back. I walked back to Selena, letting him address the club as their new leader.

  “You didn’t have to step down for me.”

  I pulled her close to me. I understood that she wanted me to live my life and she had no idea how much that meant to me. “Thank you.”

  I kissed her and smiled.

  “Logan,” Saul called.

  I looked at him. He beckoned to me. I untangled myself from Selena and walked up to Saul.

  “The men want to do one last official duty.”

  It was like a twenty-one-gun salute, something they wanted to do for me as a farewell. I looked at Selena.

  “It would be great if you guys attend our wedding. Next weekend.”

  Selena looked shocked.

  “If that’s what she wants,” I added. I didn’t want to push her into anything.

  When I walked back to her she shuffled from one foot to the other.

  “Can we not make it so soon?” she looked unsure about asking. “I haven’t even told anyone in my family or friend circles yet. Hell, I still need to get used to the idea myself. Let’s just take a moment to catch a breath, okay?”

  I nodded and kissed her on the head. “Anything you need, angel face. We’ll do it the way you want it.”

  And I meant it. I wanted her to have what she needed and what she liked. I was anxious to be married to her, to start the next chapter in my life. I was the impulsive kind, though, and it was understandable that she didn’t have the same makeup as I did. We had all the time in the world because I wasn’t going anywhere. Leaving the Fallen Thorns as their leader would make sure of that. There was no danger of me dying now that I’d decided to step d
own. And Selena would be safe forever because I would never ever let anyone or anything harm a single hair on her head.

  We had the rest of our lives to get to where we needed to be. We didn’t have to rush a single thing.

  Chapter 30

  Selena

  When we finally left the club it was dark and we were one of the last to leave. The rest of the evening had gone down as a celebration and a farewell combination, with everyone trying to get a word in with Logan to wish him all the best – even though they were going to see him again – and some of them personally congratulating Saul on being the new leader.

  I could tell Logan was emotional and, even though I wouldn’t understand the depth of his sentiment for the club, I could understand why. This was Logan’s past, his only connection to his parents and his brother. I understood sentimentality. I understood how hard it was to say goodbye.

  I was on the back of his bike, the wind whipping around me, tugging at my clothes and my hair. It was a thrill to be going that fast and at the same time Logan was a solid rock for me to hold onto and there was no reason to be afraid.

  It had been like that all day. Despite the fact that there had been a lot of fear, Logan had made sure I got through alive and well in the end, and I knew I would continue doing that for the rest of his life, whether it was work stress or fear for my life that we were dealing with.

  When he finally pulled up in front of his apartment building I looked up. I’d never been here before. The cabin had been the only glimpse into his life I had gotten besides the work side of his life. This was where he existed when everything was calm and quiet.

  The apartment itself was a typical bachelor pad, the lack of decoration and a homey touch something I’d expected. Still, it was full of Logan’s character with modern black furniture and a lot of red. Logan flicked on the lights and I turned and smiled at him. He returned the smile. This was strange all of a sudden. This was the part of my life with him that we were going to have most of the time when we were married, the part between incidents or fights or romantic moments.

  Even while we were at the lake we were hiding out. Logan had had a lot on his mind. The tension had still been high and it had been surreal. This was reality. It was starting to hit me, and hard.

  Logan walked toward me and took both my hands in his, interlinking his fingers with mine. His face was soft and gentle, his eye serious. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  I nodded. I was okay. I was sure the events would hit me at a later stage – I always took a while to digest something seriously traumatic – but for now I was coping. “It’s been a rough day.”

  Logan nodded. “Even in the life of a biker – the life I gave up now – things are never that crazy all the time.”

  I leaned against him, feeling his body heat and drinking it in. After everything we still had each other, and that mattered a hell of a lot. He wasn’t dead, he hadn’t lost Saul, and I wasn’t dead, either. It was a big one.

  Logan rested his chin on my hair. We stood there, holding each other for a moment, just being alive together. I didn’t think it would ever carry that much value for me.

  Logan lifted his chin and looked down at me. I looked up at him and he brought his lips down on mine. I let him kiss me. It started slow and gentle, his tongue sliding in between my lips and it was full of emotion and sensuality. His hands were on my face, fingers in my hair, body against mine fully. This was the man I was going to marry. It didn’t feel like some fantasy. At the lake it might have, but after the incident with May, after brushing up against death so closely I still shivered with cold, I was fully aware of what it meant and what I was letting myself in for.

  And I wanted this. I wanted Logan.

  I still had to break the news to my friends and family. I knew a lot of them were going to comment on how quick we’d moved from seeing each other to getting engaged. And Logan wanted the get married the following weekend. There were going to be more comments. It would be impossible to explain to them why – how I felt about him now, after everything had happened. How I’d felt about him even before it had all happened. It wouldn’t matter what they said in the end – I knew what I wanted and what I was going to do. Every time I thought about it, about what they would say, about the sense they would try to speak into me, about the comments about the time frame, I tried to be realistic and ask myself if I was making a mistake. I tried to make sense of what I was doing.

  Not once did that hollow feeling in my gut appear that I always took as uncertainty, as doubt, as a reason not to do something. That meant something to me because my gut was something I liked to trust and my gut seemed right on par with Logan. This was something that could happen. This was something I was excited about.

  Every girl dreams about getting married one day but Prince Charming’s face is blurry because we don’t know who we’ll end up with. My prince charming’s face was etched at the back of my skull and I knew exactly who was going to walk me down the aisle.

  Our kissing changed from sensual to something more urgent. Our bodies pressed harder against each other and I was aware of my breasts against his chest, about his erection in his pants. His hips moved against mine, grinding himself slowly against me. His hands were still on my face or in my neck, on my shoulders. I rubbed my hands up and down his back. I pushed it under his shirt and felt his skin – hot and smooth. I loved the feel of him under my fingertips, his warm skin and the ridges of muscle as I moved over his abs. He pushed himself against me in a circular rhythm and the love between as ignited into something more.

  I wanted him. My body was hot and I ached for him. I could almost feel him between my legs already, but I wanted to slow it down, to make it last long. I didn’t want this to be wild fucking and then going to bed. I wanted this to be about everything I felt for him, everything we were to each other, everything we were going to be to each other for years to come.

  I curled my fingers and dragged my nails softly over Logan’s sides, tickling him. His gasped into my mouth, his body jerking slightly and I smiled against his lips. He moved his hands down my back and onto my ass, squeezing my cheeks, pulling me into him, pressing me against him as he grinded. My body got hotter and hotter and I wanted more. When he let me go I moved my hands down to his waistband and unbuckled his belt. I undid the button and undid the zip. The leather pants were so tight around his hips they seemed painted on and they outlined his sex perfectly. He was hard and almost throbbing.

  I peeled the pants off him. He wasn’t wearing underwear. I imagined it looked stupid to have boxers or jocks under leather pants that tight. His erection sprang free, punching into the cool air. He was thick and eager and the tip glistened with the anticipation of sex.

  I left the pants halfway down his ass and wrapped my fingers around him, He was hot and thick in my hand, the veins small ridges under my fingers. I moved up and down, imitating the motions of sex. His breathing changed when I started pumping my hand up and down, slipping over the skin that got wetter and wetter with in lust. I looked him in the eyes. His eyes were dark and drowning deep, his lips slightly parted and he gasped every now and then.

  I let a smile curl up the corners of my lips before I kneeled down so he was face height. I cupped his balls with one hand and with the other I filled up at the space at the hilt of his cock where it would be hard to reach with my mouth. I took him into my mouth and swirled my tongue around his head. He groaned. When I looked up at him his eyes were closed, head tipped back slightly.

  His hands moved to my head, his fingers in my hair but he didn’t force me or guide me. He just held onto me.

  I moved my head back and forth, sliding my mouth over him and moving back again. I took my time, starting slowly. He was salty with precum and sweat and he smelled musty, the smell of a man in the mood for sex. I breathed in deep, the smell riling me up even more the way nature intended.

  I started moving faster and faster, building up a rhythm. I moved my hand up to meet my lips and back do
wn again when I pulled back, squeezing his balls softly, playing with them to coax him on. I sat on my knees and sucked Logan off, letting his sex slide in and out of my mouth, letting him feel what was to come. I was going to give him a lot more in a moment than just a hot mouth and the idea of sex.

  He was getting close, I could tell. He got bigger and harder in my mouth and his balls started to contract ever so slightly. I didn’t want him to release now. I wanted this to drag out so long that by the time it happened it would be spectacular. Spectacular and inside of me.

  I let him out of my mouth and pumped my hand up two more times before I let him go completely. He moaned in protest but I got up and took him by the hand. I led him to his bedroom, which was more black and red. I let him sit down on the bed. His cock was still out and straining. I got rid of my pants but I kept my panties on. I wasn’t going to give it to him just yet. I pulled my shirt off, too, so I was just in my underwear.