by Kat Cameron
“Damn it, leave me alone you fucking asshole! I don’t want to be around anyone. Why can’t you just go fuck one of the whores, huh? We had one night, and what, all of a sudden you love me? Go fuck yourself!” She growled out. People were starting to talk and I saw the looks they were giving us, or rather me. Stopping myself from running after her any further physically and mentally hurt me. There was one card I had to play and that was not what I wanted to do out in the middle of a bunch of people.
“Stana is pregnant, Riley. She wants you there for her and the baby.” This stopped her instantly. She looked at me, puzzled. Being thirty feet away from her was too much. It was all too fucking much and I didn’t understand how I felt this strongly about her so soon. Riley nodded to herself and had made a decision about coming back with me. Stalking towards me, she poked me with her dainty little fingers that had black chipped nail polish, she snarled, “I swear on everything that I love, if you are fucking lying to me, I will stab you in your sleep.”
This was the moment I fell in love with her. Hell, I’d say she could chop off my dick, but I’m terrified she might actually do it, considering her recent victims. Taking her hand, I kissed each of her knuckles and promised I wasn’t lying. “You have nothing to worry about with me, baby. I will back off for now, but just know when you are ready and accept that you are mine, I will be there,” I reminded her. She ripped her hand away and apparently already knew where my bike was. Damn, she was so vigilant. I didn’t want to imagine why, either.
She huffed as she put on the extra helmet I had and waited for me to get on. Swinging her leg over the bike behind me, she told me, “I am not riding this far away on a bike. Considering we are a bit far from your club, I would rather not sit on this fucking thing for hours. We will need a place to sleep.” Nodding my okay, I shot off a text to Knuckles to reserve something for us on the way home. He texted me back not even five minutes later and we were on our way to our next destination.
Having Riley on the back of my bike felt perfect. She was holding on to me as if her life depended on it. Once she got comfortable, she started leaning back against the backrest attached to the bitch seat, and she let her hands fly through the air like she was soaring. Her smile was serene and peaceful. Something I had yet to see from her. Being the one to put that smile on her face had me feeling real smug. As I drove us to our destination, I couldn’t wait to get her alone. I didn’t want to have sex with her. I mean I did, but that wasn’t what I wanted now. I just wanted to be able to lay with her and play with her hair or hold her hand. The simple, little things that most other men didn’t care about.
Pulling into the parking lot, I realized the place we were staying was quite different than where Riley had been staying. This place was white and pristine on the outside. There were at least four floors and each floor had their own balcony. We got off the bike, I grabbed Riley’s hand, and tugged her along with me. When she tried pulling away, I yanked her even closer and hugged her.
“Would you just let me hold you for a minute? Damn, I missed you. Who taught you how to run like that?” I asked. She looked up at me and went to answer when there was a car beeping at us for being in the middle of the road. I never got my answer but she didn’t let go of my hand, so that was something. We got our keycard and went up the steps to our room. Opening the door, we walked into a living room that was set up in red and gold colors. With the red bedding and the red curtains it felt warm and inviting. The walls were gold, along with the four poster bed frame that looked like a king size. In the bathroom, there were the same color tones but there was a huge whirlpool tub and a beautiful granite standup shower. I would definitely be putting those to use while staying here. That tub with the jets was calling my name.
I turned around to find Riley taking it all in. When I moved to walk towards her, she stalked past me and into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Sighing, I guessed that was that. She was most likely going to have a shower, considering the places she had been staying at. I, on the other hand, just wanted some damn water, considering I had been riding and getting barely any sleep.
I laid on the couch and shut my eyes for a couple minutes. I haven’t been this exhausted in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I love the feel of the bike rumbling under me, but after a while my back started to ache and my thighs felt like they were on fire.
As I found some peaceful sleep, I woke up to Riley sitting there, staring at me from the chair. She was freshly showered. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she had on a pink, silk tank top with matching shorts. Those legs were silky smooth, as if she had just shaved them, and her feet were bare. Damn, she looked downright edible. “You watching me sleep, baby?” I asked. She jumped as if I just shot off a gun next to her.
“You were snoring.” She dismissed me as if it were everyday that someone woke up to someone else watching them. I really wanted to have a conversation with her, but it wasn’t going to happen yet, so I let her go. I was hungry as fuck, so food it was gonna be.
“Riley, you hungry? I want to order some food service.”
“Yeah, can you just get me some eggs and bacon please?” she mumbled. There wasn’t any conversation after that. She sat on the couch and popped the TV on while I waited for the food. I really wanted to talk to her and get to know her more. I knew a little bit but not enough. Not enough to be satisfied. My phone rang while I was watching her. It was a number I didn’t know so I answered.
“Did you find her?” The question was yelled through the phone. I pulled it away from my ear so I wouldn’t go deaf.
Riley must have heard because she whipped her head my way. “Please tell me you found her? She needs to come home,” Stana begged. Stana has become a great friend ever since she showed up at the clubhouse.
“Yeah, I got her. She is right here. You wanna talk to her?” I asked. “Stana?” I heard sniffling. “Oh fuck, don’t cry!” I told her. These pregnancy hormones must really be doing a number on her. I handed the phone to Riley, she took it and walked away. The food came while she was on the phone, so I brought it out to the table and set it up. I didn’t want it to come off too romantic but I wanted more of her. I figured this was my chance. “Riley! Food is here!” I yelled to her. She came out and her steps faltered.
“What is this?” Riley whispered.
“Sit and eat with me. Please?” I asked, or more like begged. Part of me was hoping she would run into my arms and be ecstatic that I had set something like this up for her, but the other half of me knew she had been through some shit and it would take a while for her to trust me. When she gave me a slight head nod, I let out the breath that was trapped in my throat.
“Can I ask you a question, babe?” I prodded after we ate a little bit. She sat up straight and nodded. I don’t know why but this threw me off. I didn’t like when she was so serious. I wanted to see her smile. I wanted her to be fucking happy, not this zombie of a person that doesn’t even crack anything close to a smile.
“Why did you run away from me?” Simple, yet there could have been so many answers to the question I asked her. Riley looked at me like she was trying to solve a puzzle. Not that I would be hiding anything from her; I was an open book. Riley needed to understand that there would never be any secrets or lies between us, at least not from my side. She took a deep breath and started.
“When I was younger, there was only my sister, my mother, and I. Father never really loved us. I could tell he only loved our mom. I thought maybe we did something wrong for him to not show us any affection, or for him to tell us that he loved us. There definitely weren’t any hugs or anything resembling one. The only thing he used to do for us was make sure that we always had nice clothes and that we looked the part. I don’t think our mother realized what he was grooming us for until she disappeared.” She took a breath and looked me in the eyes. I could see the look of hurt and anger before she swiped that away, hiding it behind her mask that slipped back over her face.
“I know why my
mom disappeared. Or, at least I am pretty sure I know why. Obviously I never told anyone, and I think Stana is going to be pissed at me when she finds out I kept this secret for so long. Rage probably will be too.The night he came back, I couldn’t even believe my fucking eyes. I remember watching them play together when they were younger and wondering where he would appear from. You would have never guessed where I followed him and father down to one day.” She laughed, and it wasn’t a nice laugh at all. I got the chills from it.
“Father dragged him into a room by his hair. There was my mother on the bed, looking a mess with ratty hair and a bruise on her cheek. Rage was thrown into the room and father slammed the door shut behind him. But not before I saw the look of simmering anger in his eyes that were looking directly into mine. He did not want me to know about any of this. He said as much when I ran into my bedroom and he came in not twenty minutes later. I was ten, but I will never forget the look in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to murder me. I could feel the rage strumming through his body when he got close enough. After that, I never let myself be alone with him.”
Riley stood up and let me take all of that in. She walked over to the window and stood there. How she was so strong after all of that, I didn’t know. Her back was ramrod straight and she looked like she wanted to bolt and run away from everything she just told me. Getting up, I went to stand behind her. Riley got the goosebumps from me tracing lightly from her tank top straps, down her arms and to her hands. I had to tread lightly with her because I could see her breaking right in front of me and I would be damned if anyone other than me would be the one to glue her back together. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her away from the window and to the bathroom. She raised her eyebrow at me and I laughed while turning the bath water on.
“You are going to take a nice, relaxing bath while we talk more about this idea you have in your head that you aren’t good enough for me,” I demanded and she started to take her clothes off. Huh. I didn’t know it would be that easy to get her to listen. There were oils in the basket I saw when we first came in, so I went out to get them for her. By the time I got back, she was in the tub looking like a damn wild mermaid that needed to be tamed.
“Come join me, Bullet. There is enough room for both of us in here.” Fuck.
Riley
Reese wanted out. That was all there was to it and I knew it wasn’t time yet. So I pushed her back down again. As much as I wanted her to be able to come out and have some say in our life, I was scared she would freak Bullet the fuck out, and I didn’t want that either. I mean, here I was, in the bath that he ran for me. Who could resist that?
“Come join me, Bullet. There is plenty of room for both of us in here.” He looked like he was surprised I would ask. After my huge release of information, I just wanted to be held. Granted it was probably wrong of me to be using him, but at least I wasn’t using him for sex. That made me feel a smidge better.
“I got these oils that were in the welcome basket on the table. You want some in the bath?” Bullet asked. I shook my head, laid back, and waited for him to join me. Closing my eyes, I thought about what Bullet said about me not thinking I was good enough for him. He didn’t understand what it was like to have to share a brain and body with someone else that is completely psycho.
Hey now, that is not very nice. I am sane. Sometimes.
I internally rolled my eyes at her opinion. There were times when I enjoyed Reese’s company in my head. This was not one of those times at all. Feeling him tracing my hair out of my face, I opened my eyes to see him giving me a look I didn’t really want to decipher right then. I noticed he was gloriously naked though.
His body was insanely perfect. His six pack abs were straight-up lickable and he had this perfect little happy trail that would lead me to an incredibly hard cock that was as perfect as the rest of him. Not too thick and not too long. Just perfect, really. I should not be looking at him like this. I shouldn’t be leading him on for something that will never happen the way he wants it to.
Grabbing Bullet’s hand, I pulled him into the tub with me and the smile that I got was everything. It reached his eyes and they looked brighter than they had in the past week and a half that I have known him. “See, I told you there was enough room. Now sit right there in front of me, and give me a couple minutes. Then I will rub your back for you since you ran my bath,” I told him.
“Riley, you don’t have to do anything. You seemed like you could use a relaxing bath, maybe to help get rid of all that stress you have been carrying around. You just lie there and relax.” I couldn’t in good conscience ignore him, so I did what I was told.
A couple minutes later I felt him moving around, I peeked an eye open to see him grabbing one of my feet. He brought it up to his chest and started rubbing. Oh dear god, he was trying to kill me. Death by massage. Is that a thing? Well, it may be after this foot rub is over. The more he rubbed, the more wet I got, and that was not going to work. I ripped my foot from his hand and got behind him.
“What are you doing, Riley? I told you that wasn’t necessary,” he reminded me. Well I knew that, but it wasn’t only me that held a bunch of weight on their shoulders and what better place to do it. As I started rubbing and massaging his back and neck, he groaned, so I took that to be a good sign. Jesus, his back was full of knots. One by one I was getting them out and every time I did, I swear I saw his shoulders droop more and more. It felt nice to just be for a little while. No pressure to open up or explain myself.
The only problem I had with the situation at the moment was, the more I rubbed his back, the more turned on I was getting. Feeling his skin on mine reminded me of the only time I slept with Bullet, and it was everything. He made me feel alive under him. I broke out in a full body sweat just remembering it. I laid my forehead on his shoulder and took a few deep breaths, hoping to hell I wouldn’t do something stupid. But then he turned his head and his eyes were like looking into a pit of fire. They were burning so bright, I knew hopping on this train to the bed would be unavoidable.
Bullet turned fully and grabbed my face with his hands and gently kissed me. It felt like he was making love to my mouth. His lips were as soft as rose petals. How they could be that soft I didn’t know, but I didn’t want him to stop. This... this was what I didn’t want to happen. I could get addicted to him and need him more than I have ever needed anything in my life. I didn’t want to be dependent on a man for anything ever again. It scared me. No, that wasn’t the right word. It petrified me.
As I moved to sit in front of him, I came to the realization that I could truly be happy with this man, if I just let myself. For this one moment, I could let go and let him take care of me. But that would be selfish of me. So what did I do? I hopped out of the bath and right into the shower stall without even letting the water warm up. “Eeek! Jesus fuck, that is cold!” I screamed. Well that was certainly one way to cool me down. I heard a dark chuckle and Bullet’s eyes looked scarily focused. “Bullet, you okay?”
“I am great, baby. Just know that when you finally give in, your ass is going to be strapped to the fucking bed.” He jumped out of the bath as well, dripping water all over the floor, and came to shower with me. This time though, he didn’t touch me. I didn’t take it personal but it kind of felt like he was trying to tease me. His eyes were so bright and coppery that it looked like a penny being lit up by a fire. If looks could give me an orgasm, I think I may have had one.
We got out of the shower and went our separate ways. It wasn’t a nerve wracking silence though, it was comfortable. As the day went on, we talked about little things like our favorite foods and we played the game Would you Rather, in which I learned he would prefer to get bitten by a snake rather than have a bunch of tarantulas crawl all over him. What a strange man. Especially considering I said that the spiders wouldn’t bite him. Guess I knew what his weakness was.
When night fell, Bullet told me he was going to go out and get some food for dinner for us. I swear he was trying
really hard to win me over. Little did he know I wasn’t planning on staying. I wanted to go back to the clubhouse and be there for my sister, but that was it. Attachments to anyone else were not in the plans for my life. I would eventually deal with my mother too.
How many times do I need to tell you? You don’t need her. I am here and so is Stana.
“Yeah, I know. You have told me so since she was found,” I grumbled. I felt like it was forever until Bullet got back from getting food; I was starving. As soon as he returned, I devoured the chinese food he brought. What I thought was an hour later, I felt myself being picked up and strong arms wrapping around me. Bullet was carrying me to my bed since I fell asleep on the couch. I remember lying my head in his lap and him playing with my hair, but that was it. I was already dressed down so he didn’t take anything off, only laid me down in bed. He kissed me on my forehead and left the door open a crack.
That night I dreamt that Bullet and I had a beautiful home. It was a ranch mother/daughter home. It had blue siding and a pretty wooden door, a beautiful wrap around porch, and stone underneath with a swing on the front deck. The walkway was stone and the grass was freshly cut. I saw our three kids between the ages of three and six running around the backyard, going on the swings and sliding down the slides. Bullet was playing fetch with our beautiful, gray pitbull. It was such a beautiful picture that I wanted to take a mental snapshot and keep it with me forever.
I woke with a start, feeling like a new person. That dream had me realizing two things. One, I wanted that to be my reality and two, I didn’t even know Bullet’s real name. Even though I didn’t want to subject him to Reese, I knew she would come out eventually. I would just have to find the right time. My head was clear and I was motivated to find out more about the man that wanted me by his side. Speaking of which, it was awfully quiet for being the morning. I figured he would have woken me up and we would have been rushing to get back to the clubhouse.
