Ransom: Dead Ringers MC Book 2

by Deja Voss

  She rolls around and hugs my pillow to her chest, spreading out across my comforter, all wet hair and long legs and soft flesh. I feel pretty guilty, but not guilty enough to stop. It is my room after all. My bed. My shirt.

  I’m glued to the screen, waiting to see what she’s gonna do next.

  As her hand travels between her thighs, caressing her pussy, I bring my fist to my mouth. She’s so fucking gorgeous and she wants me. She totally wants me. I’d give about anything to part those thighs and bury my head between her curvy legs, but I can’t. I’m just starting to get her trust. This would be a complete disaster.

  I lean up against the screen, unzipping my jeans and freeing my cock, which is already harder than it’s ever been. I wrap my hand around it, pumping it furiously as I watch her tease her clit with her fingers, circling that sweet button that I am so desperate to press for myself.

  “Annabella,” I groan, my pumps growing more rapid as I imagine what it would be like to have her mouth wrapped around my cock, my fingers wrapped up in her long curly hair. I know it’s gonna happen before too long. This video feed is all the evidence I need.

  She parts her thighs further, slipping a finger inside her wet pussy, and I grip the top of the screen tighter when all of a sudden…

  “Motherfucker,” I shout as the alarm system starts going off. I accidentally hit the worst possible button. I have it programmed so that every camera in the house starts flashing as a loud siren wails. It sounds like we’re in the middle of a fire station during an active emergency. I hurry up and zip my pants up while I try to punch in the codes to make it stop.

  It’s too late. She’s looking up at the camera with her hand slapped over her mouth. She starts screaming as she pulls the t-shirt down and jumps down from the bed.

  The camera is programmed to zoom in on any movement, and it’s pointed directly at her, following her as she goes to leave my room. I’m so fucking busted I don’t know what to do.

  I get the alarm turned off and I hit the button that programs the loudspeaker. Maybe she doesn’t realize what happened. Maybe I can lie my way out of this one. “This is a test. All systems are functioning properly,” I say in my most robotic voice.

  “What the fuck?” she shouts, pointing up at the camera, slapping her hand over her mouth. Her face turns bright red. Her eyes grow wide. She looks mad as hell, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t make anything better. “Where are you, you asshole?” she shouts.

  I’m not gonna lie, seeing her all pissed off like that takes me right back to hard as a rock in a matter of seconds. Everything about her, when she’s pissed, when she’s happy, when she’s sad, it all turns me on. This game as a whole, it does it for me.

  She rips a drawer out of my dresser and flings it up at the camera, glass shattering as clothes go flying across the room.

  “You spying on me, you sicko?” she shouts.

  As entertaining as it is, and as much as I earned it, I need to go put a stop to this before she destroys my whole fucking house.

  By the time I get to the bedroom she’s dumping out all my drawers. I stand in the doorway and shake my head, waiting for her to notice she’s not alone.

  She quickly tires herself out, flopping down on the ground on a nest of boxer shorts and jeans.

  “You good?” I ask.

  She looks up at me, rage in her eyes, her fists clenched.

  “I thought you were at work. The note said see you at five. Make yourself at home.”

  “Well you certainly did that,” I say, raising my eyebrows. She hangs her head in her hands. “Maybe I should’ve told you I worked from home. You could’ve come grabbed me to assist.”

  I wish I could wipe the stupid smirk off my face, but this is just too good to be true. She wants me. She knows it. I know it. Now, I just need to get her to admit it.

  “Ain’t no shame, Annabella. Everybody has needs.”

  “You sound like a creep.” She rolls her eyes at me, and I want so badly to show her what a creep I actually am. Creep. Freak. Sex God. I’ll give her the whole dirty experience right this second if she says the word.

  “That’s pretty amusing coming from the woman sniffing my dirty clothes,” I say with a wink.

  “Oh my God,” she says with a groan, slapping her hands over her face and hanging her head. I don’t know why there’s something so sweet about it. So adorable. So innocent. I have no idea where this girl came from, but I feel like it’s not just my job to protect her anymore. It’s my job to corrupt her. She’s already close to the edge, but I’m gonna be the one who throws her off the cliff.

  I’m gonna be the one who does every dirty thing to her. I might not be the first, but I’ll be the best.

  I just need to figure out how to coax her in without pushing her away. I need to show her exactly what kind of man she needs.

  21

  Annabella

  I’m so humiliated, I should take off running and never come back. I should turn myself over to the police, turn myself over to the club. I’m caught between throwing up in my mouth a little bit and literally dying of embarrassment. I am usually pretty good at talking myself out of any situation, but there is really no logical explanation as to why I’m rolling around in his bed in his dirty clothes getting myself off. I can’t help it that he makes me crazy. I can’t help it that no matter how hard I try not to, this secret crush I have on him is turning me into a maniac. The longer I stay in this house, the worse it seems to get.

  “I’m sorry,” he says again, but I can’t help but see the twinkle in his eye. The satisfaction. I was caught with my pants down literally, and whatever happened can’t be unseen. I’m too embarrassed to even be pissed. There are no words that I can even use to walk back from this place. “I guess I should’ve told you the place is wired. Can’t be too safe out here. I got thousands of dollars of parts that don’t belong to me in the garage. If it makes you feel any better, the bathroom is safe.”

  I stare at my bare feet. I can’t look him in the eye.

  “There’s really nothing to be ashamed of, Annabella. I mean, it’s a natural reaction. I know I have that effect on women.”

  “Oh for fucks sake,” I mutter.

  “Whatever you were thinking about, tack on about three more inches,” he says with a laugh. “It’s a lot bigger in person, just so you know.”

  I walk across the hall into the bathroom, where supposedly I’m “safe” and slam the door behind me. I pound my head off the door a couple times, wishing I had a cigarette. This was never part of the plan. I’m only supposed to be here until I get word from Kid about where he’s sending me next. I’m not supposed to be making myself at home, let alone making myself cum on his bed.

  There’s something about Ransom that drives me wild—his commanding nature, his gorgeous body, hell, even his dick jokes light up a part of me that I’ve never known existed. I feel safe. I feel light. I feel happy. I feel… horny.

  “Let me know when you’re done,” he shouts from the hallway. “Unless you’re pooping, then open the door and let me watch.”

  I throw open the bathroom door and stick my head out. “What the fuck?” I ask. He’s grinning from ear to ear, as usual, his tongue resting on his top lip.

  “I’m just fucking with you. Unless you’re serious,” he says, raising his eyebrows.

  “You’re not right.” I shake my head and he shrugs and stares back at me.

  “Never claimed I was. Now, come on, Annabella. You can’t spend all night in there. I have a proposition for you.”

  “I’m listening,” I say.

  “How about we just get out of the house? Go somewhere. Act normal. Get away from all the bullshit. Why don’t we just act like we’re two perfectly fucking normal sexy as hell human beings getting to know each other for the first time.”

  I cock my head and feel a little twinge in my heart. How many times I wished I was “fucking normal,” knowing that if I met this man under any other circumstance, maybe things woul
d go an entirely different way.

  “Won’t somebody see us?” I ask.

  “Where I’m taking you, ain’t nobody around to see us. You trust me?”

  I clench my teeth and give him a weak shrug. “You weren’t exactly gentle with me in the van, and you did kind of freak out and lock me in a room last night. That’s not even including the fact that you were spying on me all day.”

  “Fair enough. Pretend like you just met me, and you don’t know anything about me. Would you be more likely to trust me then?”

  The tattoos, the muscles, the perfectly white teeth, the tight jeans, and the smirk are all huge red flags. He doesn’t just walk the bad boy walk. He’s the poster child for men you don’t leave alone with your daughter. “That’s a hard no,” I say with a laugh. “But I don’t have anything to lose, Ransom. You could probably take me out in the woods and murder me and nobody would know the difference.”

  “Well that’s the spirit.” He extends his hand and I begrudgingly take it. “I promise I won’t Adriana you, though. Kid would never forgive me.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” I say.

  “The Sopranos?”

  I stare at him blankly.

  “Girl, have you lived under a rock for the last twenty years?”

  “I mean, basically.”

  “Well that doesn’t bother me any,” he says with a nod. “How about we get you dressed in something other than my nasty old t-shirt, though? I mean, it’s hot, not gonna lie, but you might get a little cold on the bike.”

  “The bike?” I ask, stopping in my tracks in the hallway.

  “You know I’m a biker, right? Kid, too? Or did you just think that leather vest was a decoration?”

  “Right, right,” I say with a gulp. I don’t know why motorcycles make me nervous. Maybe it’s because my mom always told me bikers were bad news and it just kind of seeped into my psyche. The thought of going sixty miles an hour with nothing between me and the road just sounds like an accident waiting to happen.

  “You’ll learn to trust me,” he says with such confidence, you’d think he was telling me the sky is blue. Maybe he actually does have a twelve-inch penis. He’s a pretty convincing guy.

  He goes in his bedroom and comes out with a pair of sweatpants and a big black hoodie. “Sorry to disappoint you, but they’re clean.”

  I clench my fist and he laughs, and for some reason, I don’t feel so embarrassed anymore. I feel like maybe he is a nice guy, or at the very least, sincere. Maybe my little indiscretion was really no big deal, or at the very least, something we could laugh about as long as I’m around.

  I realize before him, my life really wasn’t full of laughter. Snarkiness, sure. Sarcasm, plenty. But being able to laugh, that wasn’t a luxury I was ever entitled to. He’s doing a pretty good job of getting me to let my guard down, but I’m not a hundred percent certain what his intentions are yet. What could he possibly want with me? I mean, I know his club will never accept me. I know there’s only a short window of time we have together before Kid gets out of solitary and sends me down the road. I don’t know how temporary our situation is.

  I know getting attached is a terrible idea.

  I guess if I’m going to have a “one-night stand” he wouldn’t be the worst possible option.

  I go into “my” bedroom and stand in front of the mirror as I dress myself in the hoodie and sweatpants that basically swallow my body whole. I’ve never been fashion obsessed, but even I know this is not really a great look on me. I miss my makeup. I miss my clothes, most of which are still at Riley’s house.

  “Holy shit, Juniper!” I blurt out. I know she’s probably getting plenty of people food and lots of exercise over at Riley’s house. She’s probably long forgotten me with her fancy fluffy dog pillow and her rhinestone collar courtesy of Riley. Still, I can’t just leave her. She’s the last piece of my old life I have, and honestly, if I had a little company around here while Ransom was at work, I’d be a lot less likely to get myself bored and in trouble.

  “What’s that?” he asks.

  “Nothing,” I say. I’m not quite sure I’m ready to tell him the whole plan or Riley’s involvement. Not until I can talk to Kid.

  He stares me up and down, like he’s taking me in for the first time. “I don’t think it matters what you wear, girl, you make it look good. We’ll get you some clothes, though. Whatever you want.”

  “It’s fine,” I say. I don’t want him to feel obligated to buy me stuff. I don’t want him to feel like he needs to take care of me. I just want to get back on track and get on with my life.

  We walk out to the garage, and I cringe at the giant flat-screen TV on the wall that’s filled with images of the whole house. Cameras everywhere except the bathroom, and the one spare bedroom he got so upset about last night. I wonder why anybody would need so much security in their home. He seems like a tough guy who could take on anybody.

  “Do you mind if I ask you what all that is for? I mean, obviously you had it set up before I came around, right?”

  He grimaces and hands me a helmet.

  “Better safe than sorry,” he says, pulling his helmet over his head. I can’t deny how good he looks in his leather cut and tight jeans. I can see why my mom got tangled up with these guys back when she was my age. I know he’s avoiding my question. I know he thinks he’s clever, but I can see right through his walls. I’ve spent my life building ones of my own. I know every tactic in the book.

  He tightens the strap on my helmet and opens the garage door. It’s still light outside and the birds are chirping. A hot gust of breeze blows through, and it makes me miss the nights I spent on the porch swing with my mom. I miss the “freedom” I once had, even if I was never truly free. At least I was able to live in denial.

  Now, here with him, a man who knows all my indiscretions, from my murder rap to my lust for him, I am right up in reality. He straddles his motorcycle and I walk over cautiously, like the thing is going to bite me if I get too close. As he revs the engine I jump back about three feet. Even with the helmet over my head the thing is insanely loud.

  “You’ll get used to it. I promise,” he says, smiling over at me with his pearly white teeth and chiseled jaw—a smile that says trust me if you dare… a smile that makes you want to hurl yourself off a cliff if he asks you to. He’s trouble, but like a kid and a hot stove, I want to touch it just to see what happens.

  I apprehensively toe my way over to the bike, realizing I’m going to have to get very close to him if I want to ride on this thing. I scoot myself back as far as possible on the seat so that we’re not touching at all, trying to keep a safe distance between the two of us, even though I want nothing more than to wrap my legs and arms around him and hang on for dear life.

  He turns around and shakes his head at me, and with his big tatted hand he reaches for my hip, pulling me closer to him. “You trying to eat asphalt? You gotta hang on. I lean, you lean. You put your hands right here. You let go, and I can’t be responsible for what happens next, but if I have to scoop you up off the road, Kid’s gonna put me in a ditch.”

  I like the way he’s touching me, definitely a little too much. I wish he’d do it some more, but instead he puts the bike in drive, and I realize in a quick second why he told me to hang on to him. I dig my fingers into his sides as hard as I think I possibly can as he takes off down the driveway, knowing there’s no turning back now.

  At first I feel horrified. I know we’re not going very fast at all. I know he’s swerving gently to avoid potholes. I can tell he knows this machine like the back of his hand by how smooth a ride it is, but I don’t like the fact that I have literally no control of the situation. A highlight reel of worst-case scenario shit plays through my mind—a deer could jump out in front of us, he could have a stroke, lightning could strike us. I’m stuck so deep in my head, it takes me about five minutes to realize how good the breeze feels on my face.

  I loosen my grip just a little bit, feel
ing the warmth of the sun on my hands, the vibration between my legs, the way the wind ripples through the leaves on the trees.

  I don’t have any control over the situation, but in this very moment, I don’t give a fuck. Submitting to the great unknown feels a lot better than clenching my teeth and trying to will things to go my way. Accepting my fate instead of manipulating outcomes, I feel closer to my mother in this moment than I have since I lost her. The back of Ransom’s bike is where I feel forgiven for everything I did, where I feel whole.

  I wonder if he feels the same way, or if it’s just a thrill for him. I press my cheek into his back as we ride past this giant sprawling farm. There’s a pasture full of horses, and I try not to squeal out loud as I hug him even tighter, knowing he’ll probably think I’m insane if he finds out horses are my lucky animal, and why.

  We ride down through a valley, then back up the side of a mountain, and I relax into the vibrations, letting the world turn into a giant blur. Right now nothing else exists but him and me, and I can’t help but wonder what’s going through his brain. All I can see of him is his solid back and the ear to ear smile on his face in the mirrors, his dark sunglasses pulled down over his eyes. He looks so joyful, and I realize I’m on that same level.

  I could exist like this forever, my knees in the breeze and my head on his shoulder. Suspended in time, no past, no future. It’s the only way the two of us will ever be able to exist together, and I feel the tears start streaming down my face.

  22

  Annabella

  “Where are we?” I ask as he stops and parks in a clearing of gravel off the side of the road. I don’t know the last time we saw a car, and the first thing I notice is how quiet it is out here.

  “I want to show you something,” he says, pulling off his helmet and sliding his sunglasses up on top of his head. It’s not quite dusk, but the air is getting chillier. I hug my shoulders and shiver, and he places his hand on the small of my back as I try to walk on rubbery legs. We walk down a little path not saying a word, until we get to a giant rock that overlooks the side of a cliff.