Styx and Stones: A Demented Sons MC Texas Novel

by Kristine Allen

  “There were, um, some compromising pictures in there. And this.” I kept my voice low and held the note out.

  It hurt when his face washed white as he read the note. The last thing I wanted was for him to worry about me. A part of me was afraid he’d say no man was worth that and I should walk away. But that was letting whoever sent that to win.

  “Gwen, you need to call the police,” he whispered.

  “No! You read what they said!” I whisper yelled back at him.

  “This has gotten out of hand. I’m seriously worried about your safety. There’s been a note, your car, and now this. It’s too much. They can protect you,” he pleaded.

  “Are you nuts? This isn’t some high-tech big police force, Dad,” I argued.

  “It’s better than nothing. Surely they have more technology than you’re thinking they do. This isn’t Mayberry in the middle of the 1950s.”

  “I’ll tell you what. Let me talk to Maddox about it tomorrow. If he wants me to go to the police, I will. But I need to tell him first. I don’t know why, but my guts are telling me to wait.” I’d never considered myself clairvoyant or intuitive, but something was definitely screaming to talk to him first.

  He looked like he was going to argue with me, but then his shoulders dropped and he seemed to age by ten years. “Fine. I don’t like it, but I’ll agree.”

  “Good.” I looped my arm with his. “How about I pop some popcorn and we watch a movie?”

  Anything to get my mind of the shitstorm swirling through it like a cat 5 hurricane.

  “Okay.” He didn’t sound happy, but he hugged me and kissed the top of my head.

  I gave him what I hoped was an easy smile and went to the kitchen. “Y’all pick the movie and I’ll get the popcorn and M&M’s ready!”

  As the popcorn popped, my family argued good-naturedly about what to watch. I’d poured it and the candy into a big bowl and was about to carry it to the living room when the doorbell rang. My good mood vanished as my eyes shot to my family. We all froze, and no one said a word.

  The doorbell rang once more before the pounding started. Shaking out of my fear, I took a step toward the door right as my dad shot to his feet. We arrived at the door at the same time.

  The pounding repeated, and Dad held a finger to his lips, then peeked through the peephole. He let out a relieved sigh and opened the door.

  “What the actual fuck, Gwen?” Styx stood there with his hands on his hips, then barged into the apartment.

  “Alive”—Adelita’s Way

  “Hello, Maddox. To what do we owe this pleasure? Miss us already?” Trying to break up the tension, her dad tried to joke.

  “Hello, Neil,” I gave him a cursory response, then tuned him out. My eyes were laser focused on the tiny woman in front of me as I stepped closer to her and closed the door, then said, “I want you all to pack your shit. You’re staying at my place.”

  “Maddox, don’t be ridiculous,” Gwen argued. Her eyes pleaded with me, but I was having none of it.

  “No.” I pointed a finger toward her as I wrestled with my temper. Or sanity. It was a toss-up. “This is not up for debate. My place is safer than this, and besides, y’all will have more room.”

  “My place is just as safe. Trust me.” There was a strange look on her face. I didn’t fucking like it.

  “No, it isn’t. I had a top of the line security system installed recently. You’ll definitely be safer there.” If I didn’t think her parents would flip the fuck out, I’d take them all to the clubhouse. That place was like Fort Knox.

  “Maddox. There’s more to this.” She tried to say it quietly, but her dad crossed his arms and raised a brow at her. I could tell he was hoping for a better explanation too.

  “Neil, please tell your daughter that she needs to listen to me.” After the running around I’d done after leaving here and the subsequent rush at my house, I was tired. It was nearly ten o’clock, and I had to get up early.

  “I’m sorry to say, I agree with your young man, Gwen.” Her father gave her a look, and she sighed. Obviously, her mom and sister had known how this would turn out, because they came out of the bedroom each pulling a suitcase and carrying a bag.

  My attention returned to the stubborn little thing in front of me. “Better get to packing unless you want me to go pack for you.”

  With an exasperated huff, she threw her hands in the air, muttering as she went into her room. Her dad chuckled.

  “I’ll go grab my stuff. Won’t take but a minute, son.”

  “Mr. Kelly? Neil?” Though I was nervous, I held my ground and eye contact with the older man.

  “Yes?” he asked as he was about to take a step away.

  “Gwen will be sleeping with me. If I have my say, she’ll be moving in with me permanently.”

  “Are you asking my permission?” he asked wryly.

  “No, sir. I’m giving you fair warning. When the day comes that I need to convince her to marry me, I’ll be asking your permission.”

  The corner of his mouth tugged upward as he fought a smile. “Remember what I said, son.”

  “Roger that, sir.”

  “Neil,” he corrected with a grin as he turned to the bedroom.

  True to his word, Neil was only a couple of minutes grabbing his luggage. Gwen came grumbling behind him.

  Between her dad and me, we got the women and the bags to Gwen’s rental and my truck. The entire time I was on high alert and scanning the area for anything suspicious. I’d snagged a pistol in my rush out my door after her call, and I was ready to grab it if I needed to.

  “Neil, stay close and stay sharp.”

  “I got this, son. Not my first rodeo with things like this, you know.” I nodded.

  Gwen’s dad drove the rental, and I herded the feisty pixie into my truck.

  As soon as we were moving, I lit into her ass. “Now do you wanna tell me what the fuck is going on?” I was fuming that she’d thought I’d wait until the next day.

  I’d expected her to argue with me, give me a mouth full of shit, tell me to fuck off, anything except burst into tears.

  “Jesus.” Trying to keep a close eye on the road and our surroundings, I took quick peeks at her as I squeezed her hand. “Babe, talk to me,” I encouraged her softly.

  Through her tears, hiccups, and snotty snuffles, I caught something about pictures, sex, and naked. Together, that didn’t sound good.

  “Shh, okay. We’ll talk when we get to the house, okay?” She nodded at me as she sniffled.

  Opening the garage door, I pulled into the taller bay and motioned for her dad to pull into the other. I’d moved my bike over before I left. Seeing it off to the edge of the garage had me cursing to myself, because I’d said it was at the shop.

  Darla noticed too, because she shot me a glare when she got out of the rental by it. Gwen was too upset to notice.

  Once inside, I set the alarm and showed her family upstairs to the guest rooms. They’d be plenty comfy, and each room had its own bathroom.

  “Oh, Maddox. Your house is lovely. Thank you so much for letting us stay here,” Janie gushed.

  Darla took advantage of the moment to run her hand down my arm. “Yes, thank you so much for looking out for us. I don’t understand why Gwen was being so stubborn.”

  Quickly, I stepped away from her touch.

  “If any of you need anything, my bedroom is in the small hall off the kitchen.” Darla’s eyes lit up, and I inwardly groaned.

  “Thank you. We’ll be just fine,” Janie said. When she gave me a hug, I stiffened. Lock’s mom was the only mom figure that had ever hugged me. It caught me off guard, and I awkwardly patted her shoulder.

  “Okay, well, goodnight. I’ll see you when I get off work tomorrow. I’ll leave instructions for the alarm, but it might be best if y’all stay in tomorrow.” I glanced pointedly at Neil.

  “It’s Christmas Eve. I think a relaxing day in sounds amazing,” Neil agreed. His acquiescence had some of my ten
sion unraveling.

  I nodded, then raced down the stairs. The tree that I’d put up right before her phone call stood sentinel in front of the big window of the living room. My habitual check on the windows, doors, and a double check on the alarm was completed quickly before I made my way to my room.

  Gwen was curled up on her side, holding a beat-up bag to her chest.

  “You okay?” I was exhausted, but I wanted to know what we were dealing with.

  Her eyes tracked me, but she didn’t speak. Slowly, she pulled the bag away from her and sat up. Then she dug inside and pulled out an envelope and a folded piece of paper. With shaking hands, she held them out to me. Eyes downcast, she waited.

  When I read the note, fury enveloped me like a raging storm. It took every bit of restraint I had not to explode and break something. “When did you get this?”

  “It was on my doorstep when I got back to my apartment” was her whispered reply.

  If I’d thought I was angry before I opened the envelope, I was so far off base it wasn’t funny. Because when the glossy images were in my hand, I saw red. The hand holding the pictures clenched, bending the photographs as I swept everything from my dresser.

  Her squeak cleared my vision. Chest heaving in anger, I shook in my skin. Immediately, I went to the window. Searching the area for the angle they were taken, I realized whoever it was had been in my neighbor’s fucking tree. It also meant that they’d followed us to her apartment that first night or they’d been watching her before that.

  Turning my back to the window after I ripped the curtains closed, I surveyed the woman trembling on my bed.

  “I’m going to deal with this.” I knelt by the bed so I was looking up at the fear on her face. My teeth were grinding as I scattered the photos across the floor. Both of my hands threaded through the hair on the side of her head. “Look at me.”

  Watery mystic-colored eyes looked at me. The misery I saw swimming in them broke me. Desperate to soothe her and calm the salivating beast within, I pulled her in for a kiss. The moment we touched was like a breath of fresh air after fighting through a forest fire.

  We both had a need to forget, but even though I wanted to fuck my anger into her lush body, I knew those photos were on her mind. Instead, I withdrew my swirling tongue with a tug on her bottom lip.

  “You sleeping in that?” She was in the leggings and hoodie she’d been wearing when I’d left.

  She shook her head, and I willed my dick to behave as she pulled her top off and tossed it to the floor. When she lay down and rolled the leggings off with her underwear, I had to close my eyes. The fingertips tracing my lips and feathering along my beard sent a shiver through me.

  “Gwen,” I groaned.

  “Come hold me?” she murmured softly.

  Exercising my wavering control, I stripped down to my boxers and climbed in bed with her. Not being gentle. I hooked my arms around her and dragged her tiny body to spoon with mine. When she rubbed her ass on my half-rigid cock, my inhale was a sharp hiss.

  She froze.

  “I’m sorry. I know you have to get up early,” she breathed.

  “Too fucking early,” I growled.

  Closing my eyes, I prayed my dick got the memo.

  Holding her warmth against me seemed to make everything perfect, and I slipped into a drowsy stupor. I’d never slept better than I did with her in my bed. It wasn’t long before I was out.

  My day had started out great, waking to Gwen’s small form snuggled up against my side. It had quickly gone to shit.

  I’d gotten pulled over by the same fucking asshole. Thanks to his nitpicking because I changed lanes without using my signal, I’d been late to work. That had led to me being written up.

  He was beginning to piss me off, and I wanted to know why that bastard had such a hard-on for me. I made a mental note to have Check look into him before I planted a fist in his face.

  Then one thing after the other turned the day into one big cluster-fuck. Big, fat cherry on my shit-tastic sundae of fuckery was Grace stopping by.

  She’d used the employee entrance because the code hadn’t been changed in forever. All my coworkers glared at her, but she ignored them.

  “Maddox,” she said in an airy voice. The one that used to make me think I took her breath away. Now I knew it was contrived and as fake as the tits I’d paid for.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I wasn’t in a mood to be nice. If my supervisor saw her back there, I’d likely get written up again.

  She reached in her jacket and pulled out a small wrapped gift. “Merry Christmas.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Maybe, but I wanted to.”

  “I can’t take it.”

  “Then I’ll just leave it here for you.” Setting it on the nurses’ station counter, she backed up and put her hands in her coat pockets. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  Sighing, I turned to Terri. “You got this for a couple of minutes? I’ll walk her out and be right back.”

  Sabrina and Chris made disgusted sounds and rolled their eyes. Grace glared at all of them.

  Moving quickly around the counter, I gripped her elbow, steering her toward the exit. “You have until we get out the doors to say what you have to say.”

  “Maddox!”

  “Getting closer,” I warned. She huffed.

  “Fine. I want another chance.”

  “No.”

  “Maddox, don’t be like this. I made a mistake. I’ve realized that a million times over. We have a lot of history. Don’t you think we owe it to each other to try again? Please don’t tell me you’re seeing someone.” Her hand came out of her pocket to caress my beard, and I jerked back.

  “Do. Not. Touch. Me,” I growled. “And a mistake is forgetting to unplug your curling iron. A mistake isn’t spreading your legs so another guy can stick his dick in you.”

  Big crocodile tears hovered on her lower lashes for so long I thought she may earn a world record for it. “Maddy, I love you.” She clutched my scrubs as we stepped out into the winter wind.

  Carefully extricating myself from her clutches, I stared into her eyes. “If you’d loved me, you would’ve stayed faithful. Goodbye, Grace.”

  Without a backward glance, I went back inside and joined the chaos. Right before I went on break, I got my ass chewed for Grace coming in the employee entrance. I told my supervisor to change the damn code.

  Enjoying my long-overdue lunch, I tossed Grace’s gift into my bag in my locker. Then I called Smoke to talk to him about the shit that had been going on with Gwen.

  “I’ll be out of here at my usual time. I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Styx, it’s Christmas Eve,” Smoke grumbled.

  “Yeah, I know, and if this wasn’t important, I’d never ask it of you.” Glancing at the clock, I knew I needed to get back to the floor soon. My break was almost over. I didn’t need to get my ass chewed again.

  “Fine. If you want to swing by on your way home, I’ll be here,” he reluctantly agreed.

  “Sounds good. See you then.”

  “Brief. Remember?”

  I laughed. “Got it.” He needn’t have worried, I wanted to be home with Gwen ASAP.

  We’d barely ended the call when Sabrina walked into the break room. A big grin lit up her face. “Hey, Maddox!”

  “Hey, Sabrina.”

  “You heading back out? I thought you still had about ten minutes,” she said as she pulled her lunch out of the fridge.

  “Yeah but I need to make another quick call.” Except my goddamn phone was on one percent because I’d forgotten to plug it in. Dropping it in my pocket, I glanced at Sabrina. “Do you think I could borrow your phone for a second? Mine’s about to die.”

  She gave me a questioning look. “Umm, sure?”

  Bringing it out of her pocket, she unlocked it and handed it over. I shot her a thankful grin.

  “I really appreciate this. I promise I w
on’t call Mexico,” I teased, and she laughed.

  “I trust you.”

  Dialing Gwen’s number, I entered the men’s locker room to talk.

  “Hello?” Her voice was tentative.

  “Hey, babe. Everything okay? I can’t talk long, but I wanted to check on you.”

  “Oh, it’s you. I didn’t recognize the number so I almost didn’t answer.” Relief was heavy in her voice.

  “Well, I got a little distracted last night and forgot to plug mine in. So I borrowed one from one of the other nurses.”

  “I remember now. I also wasn’t planning on staying at your place last night.” She laughed. “You already know everything now.”

  “True, but I wanted to hear your voice. I miss you.” It was official. I was a grade A sap.

  Her tinkling laughter carried over the line. “Well, that’s sweet. The tree is beautiful, by the way. When did you put it up?”

  A little embarrassed at the level of my pussy-whipped status, I rubbed the back of my neck. “Uh, well, last night after you said you would be there for Christmas.” A nervous chuckle escaped me.

  “What? Aww. Styx, that’s so sweet.” No. What was sweet was that I’d also grabbed the gift I’d bought her from under her small tree. Along with all the rest that were there, I’d thrown it in a trash bag. They were in the back seat of my truck. I planned to put them under my tree that night.

  “I wanted Christmas with you to be perfect,” I confessed.

  “It’s perfect because we’ll be together,” she admitted. It had my chest doing weird shit.

  “Okay, well, I need to get back to work.”

  “Okay.” Her smile was audible.

  “Okay.” I procrastinated over hanging up. I was pathetic.

  Laughter rang out. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  Sighing, I resolved myself to getting my ass back to work. “See you tonight, beautiful. Oh! And I need to swing by Smoke’s really quick after work, but I won’t be long.”

  “All right. Be safe.”

  “Later.” I hung up before I could be more of a vagina.