Escaping The Shadows Anthology: Shenanigans'19 @ The West Midlands Book Signing.

by Maria Lazarou

  “Step out a moment, Vida. Don’t go far.”

  “You’re calling Drummer?” She both looks and sounds resigned.

  I raise my chin slightly. Until I’ve spoken to Prez, I don’t want to commit to any course of action.

  Once the door’s closed behind her, I take out my phone.

  “Whatcha got for me, Heart?”

  Cognisant it’s Saturday evening, though, thankfully still relatively early, leads me to ask, “You got sober brothers there, Prez?”

  “Yeah. Beef, Road. Jekyll and Hyde are playing pool. Joker and Lady probably too. Depends what you want, there’s me, Wraith, Peg and Blade, all of us are able to ride. Oh, and Rock if you need him. Shooter, though, already looks a bit frayed around the edges. Him and Marvel are doing shots.”

  Plenty for what I’ve got in mind. Quickly I run through the ideas I’ve had, and just as fast, Drummer agrees.

  Feeling lighter, I open the door, spy Vida leaning against the wall a few steps down, and motion her back in. After tapping the top of the chair she’d been using and waiting for her to sit, I lean back against the desk, not bothering to go around to the chair. Using my height, I tower over her, a conscious effort to intimidate.

  “This is how it’s going to work, Vida. Drummer’s on his way with some of the boys. You’ll go out in the club with them, point out your buyers. My brothers will let them know in ways there can be no misunderstandings that there won’t be any more buys in the Angels. You hear me?”

  “I…”

  “A nod will suffice.”

  After her head’s dipped down and up once, I continue, “You give us the name of this dealer, and we’ll pay him a visit. Let him know both you and your brother are under Satan’s Devils’ protection. Get him to back off.”

  “But the money he says we owe…”

  “Ain’t worth his life, sweetheart.” I wait until that’s sunk in. She sees us as fair employers, probably hasn’t thought what we can be like when the full force of the MC meets the like of this dealer. I reckon we’ll make him see sense with no cash changing hands. I notice the tone of my voice has her paling.

  Seeing her biting her lip again, I tilt my head to listen.

  “My brother…?”

  “Yeah. This is the deal. He agrees to go to rehab? We’ll help get him a place to go, and you keep your job. He refuses? Then we’ve got to part ways. Hate to say it, Vida, but something’s got to break this cycle, else this shit is just going to happen again.”

  Her lips purse, then slowly, she nods.

  “Heart, I didn’t expect that. You of all people. I thought… I’m sorry for what I said to you.”

  “Vida. People can and do change. Can move forward. Ain’t always easy. I’m not the man I was when Crystal was alive, got the stuffing knocked out of me when I lost her, but I’m not the man I was immediately afterwards either. We don’t stand still, we take opportunities that are handed to us and seize them, albeit reluctantly at times.”

  “I hated you that night,” she admits. “The way you came in and talked to the girls., then using Tiff that way. But you have changed, moved on. If you can do it, maybe Sheldon can too.”

  “That’s your brother?”

  She nods. “Yeah.”

  Even with music playing loudly, the thunder of eleven Harleys arriving shakes the club. Going outside, I clasp Drummer’s hand, slap the six brothers who’ve got off their bikes on the back of their cuts. Then lead Joker, Lady, Beef, Jekyll, and Hyde inside. It seems Prez has already had words with them, they know what to do, aiming straight for a still stunned looking Vida. Satisfied they’ll clear out any desirables as the woman points them out, I leave and go back outside with Drummer. There I greet Wraith, Peg, Blade, Beef and Rock.

  “We going to bang some heads?” Beef slaps his meaty fist into the palm of his hand a couple of times, looking enthusiastic. A good way to spend a Saturday night.

  “Yeah, Brother.” I grin.

  Blade, still sitting on his bike, is cleaning his fingernails with a knife. “You want that I find this dealer and gut him?”

  Drummer swipes him around the back of his head as he walks past.

  “We’re going to threaten him, not kill him.”

  “Spoil all my fun, Prez.” The enforcer sighs as he re-sheaths his knife.

  I get onto my bike and fall into formation with my brothers as we ride through the darkened streets of the city. There was a time I walked away from all this and never thought I’d look in my rear-view or miss it. How wrong I’d been to turn my back on my family. Now I was glad I survived to come out the other side.

  We found our target quite easily, persuading him to back off was a little harder, but he seemed to get the message. Though it was hard to understand him speaking with his broken jaw. His nose looked a little different to how we’d first found him as well.

  Back at the club, I leave Drummer looking into rehabs for Sheldon and my brothers celebrating a job well done at the bar. I walk up to my house and my family.

  Chapter Three

  “What’s up with your hand?” Marc’s eagle eyes spot my reddened fist as soon as I walk in through the door. She turns away from the steriliser where she’s just placed the babies’ bottles ready for the morning.

  Sucking on my knuckles to remove the sting and the blood, I tell her. “Hit something a bit too hard.”

  “Something deserving?”

  Chuckling I confirm, “Never more.”

  Flicking the switch to on, she comes over, taking my hand in hers, and examining the damage for herself.

  “You’ll live,” she pronounces with a cheeky smile. “At least you don’t have to deal with mountains of paperwork afterwards.”

  My lips curve as I grin back, knowing full well she’s referring to when she was a cop.

  “Miss it?” I ask, as I approach, moving her hair away from her neck, putting my lips to the sensitive spot there.

  “Sometimes,” she admits. “Though what I’ve got now, more than makes up for it.”

  That’s what I needed to hear. I’m her man. It’s my job to make sure she never regrets anything.

  “They down?” The tone of my voice has changed, dropping an octave lower.

  “Fed, changed and asleep,” she grins, and licks her lips.

  “Grunt?”

  “Beef walked him earlier.”

  I turn her around, place her hands on the counter, covering them momentarily with my own, pressing down slightly.

  “Leave them there.” My chest rests against her back and I feel her tremor.

  She’s wearing an old tee shirt, so I feel no guilt at all as I take out my knife and slice it from the neck to the hem.

  “Heart!” she squeals. The coolness of the air conditioning and the cold steel of the blade cause goose bumps to rise on her bared skin. Her breathing has sped up, betraying how much my action has affected her.

  “Hush, I’ll buy you another.”

  “You’ve been talking to Blade too much. Don’t you dare cut my bra. It’s my comfy one.”

  Expertly I flick the catch on the aforementioned item, sliding the straps down her arms, allowing her to lift her hands but only to let it drop to the floor. Her breasts, enlarged since her pregnancy, fall free, quickly captured in my palms. I was pleased she gave up breastfeeding, now able to toy with those nipples again without her becoming sore. Feeding two hungry babies had become too much after a few months. As I pinch lightly with forefingers and thumbs, she gasps. I fucking love how sensitive she is there, knowing by the way she’s pushing her hips back into me she’s aroused, and probably already wet.

  As I give attention to those taut little buds, my lips resume nuzzling her neck, sucking at that sensitive spot that makes her squirm and disobey me, raising one hand and bringing it up behind my head, holding me to her as if there was a chance I might move away. I don’t need a physical anchor, her natural perfume I’m inhaling is enough to keep me
close. The combination of that and the slight saltiness that I’m tasting, together with softness of her skin ensures I’m here to stay.

  One last fondle, one small nip with my teeth, reluctantly I let her breasts free, and start kissing my way down her back. Every vertebrae gets attention from my lips, while multi-tasking, my hands unbutton her shorts. Then, continuing my downward journey, I push them and her underwear over her hips.

  Folding myself to my knees, I tap her inner thighs. Obediently, she parts them. With my hands on her ass cheeks, gently I separate them. In the light overhead her beautiful cunt already glistens and I lean in closer to inhale her musk.

  “Heart,” she encourages.

  “I’m hungry, darlin’. You gonna let me eat you out?”

  She huffs. “Don’t you dare stop, or…”

  She doesn’t finish the threat, but she’s got no need to. I’m not going to let my old lady go unsatisfied. In truth, I’m utterly unable to resist. This close to her, knowing her sweet flavour, it would be impossible to pull away.

  With my cock throbbing as though it’s trying to work its way out of my jeans unaided, I swipe my tongue along her slit. She bends slightly, putting herself at a better angle, meaning I can also attack that sensitive bud of nerves.

  “Heart,” she gasps, then repeats. “Heart. Oh my God, Heart.”

  Swiping some of her cream, one thumb rims her puckered hole, and two fingers slide inside her slit. Already close, it takes little more than some rubbing on her clit, then she’s tightening, her muscles clamping on my fingers, her ass checks flexing as she muffles her scream with her fist.

  Bringing her down, I stand, free my dick from my pants. As I place my hand in the middle of her back and push, easing her down over the counter, I feel little tremors still wracking her body.

  She arches in protest as her breasts meet the cool surface of the granite, but I’m unrepentant, my hand encouraging her to stay down.

  “Haven’t got a condom,” I whisper.

  “No need,” she rasps back.

  I nod, her response as expected. It’s highly unlikely she’ll get pregnant again. Once was a miracle, twice even that word wouldn’t describe it, but if there’s a risk she needs to have the choice.

  I position my cock to that place he thinks is his home, pushing gently in, giving her time to adjust to my size. Then my patience is gone. I slide back out, then ram in.

  Fuck. This woman.

  However long I live, I’ll never get tired of the feel of her. She’s perfect for me.

  Though I’m in the dominant position, she doesn’t give in. She’s pushing back, meeting me thrust for thrust. An active participant taking whatever I want to dole out, and giving it back with interest.

  “Fuck me like you mean it,” she growls.

  Barking a laugh, I do just that. Hammering in and thrusting as hard as I can. With her, however rough it gets, we’re always making love. Our kind of loving, no-one else’s.

  “I’m going to…”

  “Hang on, babe. Hang on.” My balls are tightening, drawing up. It takes little more than another few seconds and a few more pumps before I’m ready as well. “Come for me.”

  She does, with a wail. Cum shoots up, then out from the tip of my cock, flooding her. Collapsing forward, I hold her tight. This woman who saved me when I most needed it. She completes me. She’s my life.

  We both need a moment to recover, to get our breath back. My cock becomes flaccid, and while I don’t want to lose the connection, it slowly slips out. I stand, and help her upright.

  “Heart.” She flicks her hand at me.

  “What?” I ask, innocently, while reaching out and tearing off a few sheets of kitchen paper, to clean her up.

  “You didn’t even get undressed. While I’m…”

  “While you’re naked, barefoot and in the kitchen,” I say unapologetically, adding with a smirk. “Just how I like it.”

  Her eyes move from my face, down my body, taking in that I haven’t even removed my cut. Her gaze pauses on my cock which I smartly tuck back into my jeans and do the zip up, before her scrutiny finally takes in my boots still on my feet. When she looks back up, she’s got an unreadable expression on her face.

  “You left out one thing, my caveman lover.”

  My eyes narrow. “What?”

  “Naked, barefoot, in the kitchen, and,” her naked body turns around, making my eyes flick down to her heart shaped ass and her hand reaches out to take something that’s been hidden out of sight. “Pregnant,” she announces showing me the stick with a flourish.

  My eyes snap to hers. For a moment I can say nothing at all. Then, sweeping back my long dirty blond hair, I shake my head in disbelief. “Jesus.”

  The pleasure slides off her face. “Heart?”

  It’s then I see she’s totally misinterpreted my reaction. Moving swiftly, I pull her into my arms.

  “Fuck, Marc. Life just keeps giving, doesn’t it? I thought it had taken everything away, now it just keeps giving back.”

  Kissing the top of her head, I move her slightly so I can put a finger under her chin and turn her face up. “Are you okay? We haven’t been careful, I never…”

  “More than okay, Heart.” She leans her cheek against my chest. “But maybe we ought to be more careful in future. One more baby, and that will have to be the last.”

  “Doctor, tomorrow,” I say firmly. All went well last time, but with the issues from the accident she had when she was eighteen, any pregnancy couldn’t be guaranteed, nor that she’d be able to carry the baby to term.

  “No worrying, Heart, okay? What will be, will be.”

  “Fuck, Marc. What if it’s another set of twins?” As the implications hit me, I roar with laughter.

  We’re having a baby.

  I’ve been happy enough with three. Now it could be four, or heaven help us, five.

  Her eyes meet mine; the corners of her lips turn up as she lightly punches me in the arm.

  “Biker super sperm, obviously, lover. It’s all your fault, you know.”

  As I chuckle, she shivers, reminding me the air conditioning is turned up high. With a leer I pick her up, carrying her gently bridal style as I take her to bed. Marc, pregnant again? The chances of that are probably about as likely as winning the lottery.

  Exhausted from a day of looking after the kids as well as our lovemaking earlier, she’s quickly asleep as I lie awake, thinking. Not worried, not tossing and turning, just getting shit sorted out in my head. Realising the time has come to let go of the past, the vows I had made in the depths of despair should be re-evaluated in the light of a new day. That it wasn’t a betrayal to commit to a new future, that I could embrace both the past and the present.

  First thing the next morning, I head on into Tucson. Finding something that’s perfect takes a little bit of time, but eventually I’m satisfied with my purchase.

  When I return to the compound, I’m not surprised that Marc’s in the clubroom, along with Sophie, Sam and Darcy and their offspring and other assorted children. Three of them mine. I snort as I look on, unable to believe in a few months, if everything goes as it should be, I’ll have at least one more. Yeah, Marc’s right. Think we’ll have to do something to make sure we leave it at that. If my biker sperm’s that powerful, maybe it’s me who should have the snip.

  Grunt spots me and makes his way over. He shifts his weight back, but before he can jump, I snap, “Down.” Fucking mutt can almost reach high enough to put his paws on my shoulder when he stands up.

  Marc catches my eye, gives a quick shake of her head, but smiles a secret smile. Yeah, we’ll keep our news to ourselves for a while. Don’t want to tell everyone and tempt fate.

  I’m not a patient man. Once my mind’s made up, I act on what I want to get done. I close the distance between me and my woman in just a few strides. “Soph, Sam. Can you watch the twins for a moment?”

  “Sure,” agrees Sam.<
br />
  “Randy bugger.” Sophie’s English accent is strong. “You could be a bit more subtle.”

  Ignoring her, I crouch down to Amy. “You gonna come to, sweetheart? Got something I want to talk to you and your mom about.” As she jumps up, excited at being included, I hold out my hand to Marc. When she takes it, I tilt my head toward the VP’s wife. “Nah. It’s not what you’re thinkin’. She’s still too worn out from last night.” A wink accompanies my words.

  I can hear Sophie’s squawked laugh as my old lady and oldest daughter walk out of the door.

  Reaching our house at the top of the compound, I usher them both inside. For her, Amy is particularly quiet, her little face turned up to mine, her eyes slightly narrowed as if sensing something important is coming. Marc seems oblivious to any undercurrent in the air.

  “Amy,” I crouch down beside her again. “You remember what you asked me the other day?” She’s six-years-old, at that age things don’t hang around in her brain very long. She shakes her head so I remind her. “Remember you asked me if you could be a bridesmaid?”

  Blue eyes, so much like that of her birth mother, the sight that used to cause unbearable pain now only filling me with joy, go almost impossibly wide.

  Marc scrunches her face, obviously running through the possibilities, then coming up blank, asking, “Who’s getting married, Heart?”

  Amy jumps up and squeals. “You and Daddy of course. Silly Mommy.”

  I risk a look over my shoulder. Perhaps I should have asked her first. Her expression is hard to analyse. Pleasure? Horror? Trying to find a way to refuse not only me, but letting Amy down gently as she does.