Demented Sons Series Volume One: Books 1-4 (Demented Sons MC Iowa)

by Kristine Allen

  At Ty’s squeal, I looked up to see him kneeling in his chair, looking over the back into the greenery around an old oak tree with an expression of great concern. “Momma! The duckie! Him’s dead!” His little horrified expression had me jumping up, just as our waiter came up to the table.

  “Oh, that’s just Igor. Don’t let him fool you. He just likes to play dead to get you to feel sorry for him and then feed him. He’s playing you, and he’s good at it.” The waiter’s flamboyant tone and explanation to disregard the feigning duck had me giggling like I hadn’t in months. In fact, the moment Kayde had stepped up to the end of the pew in the cathedral, except for the brief few minutes as we left the cathedral, it was as if someone had placed a cloak of safety and tranquility around my shoulders. It had allowed me to feel and think more like the “old me.”

  “So he’s okay?” My question was directed at the waiter, who assured us the duck was indeed fine and not to worry about him. He pleasantly took our drink orders and assured us he would return shortly. Despite his assurances, I had to get up to see this duck for myself.

  Sure enough, there was a white duck with tan splotches mottling his coat. He lay there with his neck looking twisted and broken with his eyes closed. Looking closer at him, my doubts began to surface at the accuracy of the waiter’s assessment and opinion of said duck. “Kayde, I think he really is dead,” I whispered in Kayde’s ear. His short cropped hair tickled my cheek, and the light scent of his cologne invaded my senses. Being so close to him was lethal to my sanity.

  Just as Kayde turned in his seat to inspect the supposed dead duck, the duck blinked, shook his head, and stood. His neck was twisted and resembled a sideways “s” coming off his body. Quite frankly, it was a little disturbing. However, he waddled around his little area, shooting us a glare for interrupting his snooze.

  The chuckle of the waiter behind me had me turning around with my astonishment written clearly across my face. “I told you, didn’t I? He’s been like that since he was a baby. We think his momma came and had him up in the flowers, because that’s what they do. Well, you know, they have those babies in the water almost as soon as they hatch, and we think he must have fallen and hurt himself jumping down, but survived. Now he uses it to his advantage, making the most of a bad situation. You know?” Setting our drinks on the table, he smiled as he finished his story.

  Throughout the meal, the waiter was attentive and friendly, showing us pictures of his lovely daughter and telling us that though she was technically an “oopsie,” he believed he was meant to make the “mistake” he had initially thought it was so she would exist to make his world perfect.

  Before I knew it, we were ordering dessert, even though my stomach was so full it felt it may burst. I made a mental note to leave the waiter a good tip. Ty was enjoying the chocolatey, gooey concoction in front of him with great gusto. His precious little face was covered in the chocolate fudge from the dessert, as if he had literally leaned over and ate the dessert sans silverware or hands. Before I could even move to clean him up, Kayde was dipping a napkin in his glass of water. My heart sang at how patient and gentle he was as he cleaned the sticky mess from my baby’s face. “Thank you for helping with him. You’re really good with kids.”

  Kayde’s expression was one of confusion. “It was nothing. He’s a great little guy.”

  While he finished up with Ty, I dug in my purse for the cash I had withdrawn near the house. Before leaving, I had called and canceled all of my credit cards. Then I had stopped at the closest ATM, withdrawing the daily max. My phone had been left on the bathroom counter after I reset it to factory settings. Fear had me working quickly to get out of the house, in case Lawrence came home during his shift. He was filling in on nights this month because they had several people on vacation, and I knew I needed to get out before he realized anything was going on.

  Caution, and more than a little bit of paranoia, had me leaving my car miles away because I still wasn’t completely convinced it wasn’t set up to be tracked by Lawrence. I’d done my best to ensure I wouldn’t be found too easily. Now my plan hinged on Kayde being willing to help me.

  Before I could pull out the cash to pay for the meal, Kayde dropped far more than necessary on the table. “No, Kayde! I asked you to meet me without any explanation. The least I can do for taking you away from your family is pay for our food.”

  “Hell no, Sera. You are never paying for my food, or yours when you’re with me. That’s my job. Call me chauvinistic if you want, but it’s how my abuela raised me.” Pain reflected in his eyes, and his voice cracked slightly at the mention of the little woman who nurtured him. Nodding in reluctant acceptance, I conceded, because to argue would be to go against her wishes and teachings.

  It was a cruel reminder that he had just buried someone who meant the world to him. It didn’t escape me that the two times, in years, that we’d connected were on the days we buried someone very dear to us. A sobering thought if there ever was one.

  The waiter had come back by to see if we needed anything else, to-go drinks or anything, and Kayde handed him the cash with the ticket with the instructions to keep the change, and he thanked him for doing an excellent job. Ty was hefted up into Kayde’s arms where he willingly laid his little head on the muscled shoulder for a pillow. His eyes were heavy, as his belly was full.

  Leisurely, we strolled down the Riverwalk again. The sun had been dropping in the sky, and a breeze had kicked up, twisting my skirt around my legs. Making a mental note to stop somewhere to get a prepaid phone and a few necessities, I clutched my purse handle with both hands, rubbing my thumb absently along the edge. The only things I had brought with me were a few underthings of ours, which I had shoved in a gallon Ziploc bag and into my large purse. It may have been crazy, but we left with the clothes on our backs, wanting to bring nothing along that may be a reminder of my life with the devil himself.

  At the end of the walk, I followed as he approached the doors on the Riverwalk level to the Drury Plaza Hotel. I’d always wanted to check out the old historic building that had once been a bank. “You’re staying here?” I was surprised, because I knew it wasn’t cheap. Shit, that kind of made me sound snobbish, assuming he wouldn’t or couldn’t stay somewhere like that. It made me feel rotten as soon as the words were out of my mouth.

  “Don’t sound so surprised. I’ve been responsible with my finances over the years.” His good-natured smirk eased some of my guilt at my insensitive words. In one of my brief Saturday visits to my dad’s, his abuela told me about him getting injured “again” and getting out of the Marine Corps. Besides making me wonder exactly how many times he’d been injured, it also made me question what he was doing for a living since he had gotten out of the military. The only thing I really knew was that he had moved to Iowa.

  We rode the elevators up, got off, walked around the corner, up a curving ramp, and then took another elevator to the fourteenth floor. “So there’s no thirteenth floor. Do you think there is a mini-floor in between, or are we actually on the thirteenth floor anyway, but old superstitions made them just not number it the thirteenth floor, thinking that fooled the powers that be and made it okay or safer?”

  His laughter made me smile up at him.

  “Only you, babe. Only you.” Laughter infused his words as he slid the key card in and the door opened with a buzzing click. Stepping through the doorway, he called out, and the man I saw at the funeral stepped in from the balcony. His unusual eyes appraised me with question before returning to Kayde holding the now-zonked Ty.

  “Hey, Hacker—Erik—this is Sera.” He motioned for me to come closer. “Sera, this is Erik. Sera and I grew up together. Christian is her brother. She was married to Tyler.” Something in Erik’s eyes as he looked at Kayde made me wonder what he had told him.

  “Hi.” He nodded, then took my outstretched hand in his briefly, but it felt like he had read my mind and soul within that momentary contact. When he looked at the boneless lump draped
over Kayde’s shoulder with question, I felt the need to explain. “This little sleeping beauty is my son, Ty.”

  “Speaking of this not-so-little guy, man, would you mind keeping an eye out for him while we go to the terrace to talk? I’ll have my cell on me, so if he wakes up, you can call us and we’ll head right down.”

  “Yeah, no problem. Take your time.” Erik’s answer came as Kayde tugged a white blanket out of a closet with one hand and laid it on the couch before gently placing Ty on top of it. He then slid a big ottoman over and pushed it against the edge of the couch so Ty wouldn’t fall off and hurt himself. How did he get so good with kids? For the umpteenth time that night, I wondered about his life. Did he have a steady girl? A wife? Kids? My visits with Abuela had always been brief because I hadn’t had much time and wanted to be sure to get quality time with my dad. Also, if I was honest, I had purposefully not asked about Kayde because I didn’t want to hear about it if he had gotten married or had children.

  The silence between us became increasingly strained the closer we got to our destination. When we reached the fifteenth floor, we walked down the hall and through some glass doors onto a large terrace overlooking the San Fernando Cathedral where he had met me earlier. The view was incredible, and I stepped excitedly to the railing to look over where I could see the little ferry boats on the river below. Everywhere you looked, people walked, shopped, and laughed, completely oblivious to us staring down at them from fifteen floors above.

  “It’s beautiful, Kayde!”

  When he stepped behind me, his warm hand slid from the middle of my back to hook over my shoulder.

  “I knew you’d love it. Wait about fifteen minutes and watch the cathedral.” At his words, I knew exactly what he was talking about. Several of the girls at work had mentioned the light show on the cathedral, and I had wanted to bring Ty to see it, but hadn’t been allowed to.

  Before I lost my courage, I opened my mouth and poured out my story and request. Cowardly, I kept my back to him and my eyes trained on the cathedral below us. “Kayde, the reason I asked you to meet me is I need your help.” God, this is hard. “Lawrence is not my fiancé and never will be. Yes, I dated him. Yes, Ty and I are living—were living—in his house, but tonight I left. The problem is he has a lot of resources and a lot of friends in the force. I need to get an apartment that isn’t in my name so he can’t find me as easily.” Fuck, the words were so hard. “Tonight, I escaped. You have no idea.”

  The light show started, and his hand tenderly pushed my hair off my shoulder and massaged my tense muscles as he allowed me to talk. His touch sent shivers down my spine, and my eyes closed, enjoying a touch that was kind and gentle, such a change from what I had been subjected to for the last year. With self-disgust, I gave him a brief rundown of my life with Lawrence. I kept the worst parts to myself. He remained quiet throughout the entire story, but I could tell he wanted to know more. The question I knew he was dying to ask me burned in his gray eyes. Before he could press for more details, I tried to change the subject. “Thank you again for meeting me tonight. Thank you for dinner and for being so kind to Ty.”

  “It’s easy to be nice to Ty. He’s a great little boy. Oh, and don’t think I didn’t notice you gave him part of my name too. What I want to know is why? Why, after the way I treated you the night of Tyler’s funeral, did you name your son after me?” The whisper of his words against the side of my head ruffled my hair. “But more than that, I want to know… did he hurt you?”

  Any further words froze in my throat. Dammit. I really hoped he wouldn’t ask me that. My heart raced in trepidation of him finding out the truth of what I had endured, because he was not the type to let it slide, and I didn’t want him getting involved with Lawrence. My plan was to keep them as far apart as possible. When he reached for my chin to turn my head, I instinctively flinched, giving away some of the answer.

  “I’ll never hurt you, beautiful,” he whispered. Little did he know, he had hurt me so many times over the years. Every time I had seen him with another girl—worse when his hands touched her the way I wished to be touched—every time he left me. He’d been my world, and while my youthful mind fooled itself into thinking the hurt I felt at his abandonment was because he was like my brother and I hated losing his attention, the woman in me knew it was because I had loved him with every fiber of my being for nearly my whole life.

  “Goddamn it, Sera, I know I’m so very wrong for you, but you do something to me. You have since the time I had to take you to get your first bra and I realized my feelings toward you were anything but brotherly. Which is why I forced myself to stay away from you, but fuck if I can continue to keep you at arm’s length. My very cells scream out for you every time you’re close. I’m not going to lie or sugarcoat things. I want to fuck you in the worst goddamn way. Tell me right fucking now if you don’t want me the same way, and we’ll go back to the room. I’ll help you get an apartment, and I’ll leave. But this is your choice. The ball is in your court, baby.”

  His words made me melt, starting with between my damn legs. It had been so long since a man had given me a choice. His even offering me that choice was a potent aphrodisiac. But before I went any further with him, I had to know there wasn’t someone waiting for him back in Iowa. I didn’t want to be a home-wrecker.

  “So there’s no one waiting back home for you, right? Like no girlfriend?” I swallowed painfully. “Or wife?”

  His soft laugh moved my hair like a warm breeze. “Not sure if I should be offended that you think I would pursue you if I was committed, or happy that you want to know that I’m free. But in answer to your question, no, I’m not with anyone. There hasn’t been anyone for a long time. My life in the Marine Corps wasn’t exactly conducive to a serious relationship. And being a prospect with the club for months on end wasn’t either. So don’t worry, I’m not a cheating asshole.”

  “In that case, then yes. God, please, Kayde.” It was as if a million years had passed since he had soothed my pain that rainy night after we buried Tyler. It felt like my blood was burning through my veins, my body on fire and aching for his touch.

  His face buried in my hair, and I was pretty sure his whispered words were “Fuck, yes. God help me.”

  Indeed. God help me too.

  “Break”—Three Days Grace

  GO SLOW. DON’T SCARE her with the animal way you want to take her. The passionate consent she breathed sent my libido into overdrive. My hand slowly worked its way up her back until my fingers threaded through her hair and I twisted it in a knot around my fist. Moving slowly because her reaction to my unexpected touch earlier was still fresh in my mind, I tipped her head back until the smooth column of her throat was bared to me. My teeth gripped the cords in her neck, then soothed them with my tongue. There was an erotic scent that clung to her skin—part whatever perfume she wore, part her own sensual elixir, designed by the gods to drive me out of my mind.

  A soft moan escaped her plush lips as they parted in a gasp. That was the opening I needed to trail the tip of my tongue along her bottom lip. Once her mouth opened to my probing, it was as if the light show was in our heads. With every tangle of our tongues, color burst behind my eyelids. Her lips still tasted sweet from her dessert, and I was on the verge of losing my fucking mind.

  “Please tell me again you want this and you’re in your right mind.” It was dark on the terrace by that time, but I knew there were cameras. Unfortunately, I didn’t give a flying fuck. If I didn’t have her soon, my balls may actually explode. She had me that worked up, and she wasn’t even trying.

  Her panting breaths were pulling me in, her every inhale closer to sucking my soul completely into her inner kaleidoscope of rectitude and light. With her breathless consent, my dick twitched violently against where it was pressed into the top curve of her ass. This petite woman with the honey hair and caramel apple eyes affected me in a way no other ever had. With her, the hateful demons that dwelled in the blackness of my soul slumbere
d. The chaos that normally reigned in my head was quiet. My heart felt like a small part of it was thawing, coming to life after a deep hibernation.

  The savage part of me screamed to utterly consume her, to rip every good, shining, soothing thing from her to feed the darkness within, leaving her a husk. Breathing deeply, I subdued the clamoring within, instead touching her lightly. Reverently. Worshipping her warmth. Reveling in her response to my lips on her skin. Every soft moan a symphony. Every breathless sigh a siren’s song.

  “Security could walk out here any moment if the cameras are actually working and monitored, but I don’t fucking care. Do you?” My words slipped sultry and hot into her ear, where I inhaled the sweet smell of her hair, the shell of her ear gripped gently in my teeth. One arm wrapped around her, hand splayed over her soft belly, the other wrapped lightly around her torso, hand cupping her neck. Beating like a drum against my fingertips, her pulse raced.

  “No.” The softly spoken word sent blood rushing to my cock to the point that I would have sworn I was light-headed. The risk of getting caught increased the thrill of the moment, but I wasn’t going to strip her naked there on the terrace. The beautiful pixie-like body pressed against my length was mine, and to share it with anyone, in any way, bordered on sacrilege. Not that I wasn’t tempted. For years I’d fought the temptation she represented.

  The short, flowing dress she wore ended in an uneven hem that looked like handkerchiefs sewn together. It matched the green in her eyes perfectly and was innocent enough in its design. But on her, it was straight sinful. Tempting my mind, body, and soul in ways nothing else ever had. Making me want to rip it off her to worship her golden skin. I’d always teased her and called her Tinkerbell because she was so tiny and feisty growing up. In her little green dress, she fit the part even more, and I smiled at the vision before me.