by J. C. Allen
“Where are the rest of your clothes?”
He slowly came into view, having parked at the end of the awning, outside of the compound. I walked up to him. His jeans were a hard denim but conformed to the muscles of his legs. He wasn’t as beefy as Jaxson or Simon, but he nevertheless had defined, strong muscles I could see even through his clothes. His gray tee shirt clung to his narrow waist and wide pecs. I had an almost overwhelming itch to touch him
Then his cut… that leather was an aphrodisiac all in itself.
I got to his perfect face and almost stumbled in my flat shoes at the sight of him. I took in his sexy permanent smirk and full lips, the square of his jaw, and the glint of his bright eyes.
“I am wearing clothes.”
I tried to come up with something witty and clever. Clearly, I failed.
He gave me a funny look and leaned off his back before reaching into the compartment to pull out the helmet.
“That’s not what I asked.”
His eyes did a heated glance once over of me from head to toe. I crossed my arms and held my jacket in place, but he just sent even more shivers up my body. There wasn’t any amount of warm clothing that could protect me from the shivers he gave me. He paused as he raised the helmet, then gave a slight shake of his head.
“You’re weird, Grace.”
Tell me something I don’t know, Matthew.
“Um, thanks?”
I made a face at him, in part because I just didn’t know what else to say. Maybe that reinforced what he had said, but—
“In a good way.”
Oh…
He licked his lips and set the helmet on my head, adjusting the straps. It must have been Michael who was on the bike last because he had to cinch it back quite a bit.
“I guess I am weird then.”
“A little,” Matthew said as he pulled back from me. “Michael says hi, by the way.”
Aww. Little guy misses me.
“How is he?”
“He’s good. It’s only been a day but I’m sure he’ll start missing his mom soon.”
“He might,” I said, which was probably silly for almost any other Mom but not in Rosella’s case. “He’s pretty used to not seeing her a lot, since she is a nurse and works odd hours.”
Matthew gave me a surprised look, but more surprised that he hadn’t considered the point.
“I didn’t think of that. But if he uses it to try and stay up late and eat junk food, I’ll remember it.”
He mounted his the bike. The engine had still been running, the exhaust fanning out into the dark air and turning white. I steadied my hand on his shoulder to swing over and got on the bike. Once I slid on, I settled farther down on the bike, my legs stretching until my ass was properly aligned with his, the heat of his body pressing into mine.
“Hold on tight.”
Don’t really have much of a choice here, do I?
He revved the engine, letting me feel it pulsate through my whole body. I had to move in closer as my arms went around his waist. I tried so damn hard not to feel him up… but it was no use. My palms splayed across his abdomen, the ridges of his midline and six pack searing my palms. I lay my head across the center of his back, my cheeks right where I could feel his heartbeat through his back.
A few moments later, he kicked off and turned onto the main road, the motion pushing me even closer to him. I felt my cheeks flushing as I held on tighter, willing myself to think of anything other than orgasming right on this bike—seriously, the way my body was positioned, I couldn’t help it, especially with the bike’s vibrations and my own feelings for Matthew. I took a deep breath, but that didn’t help much either since he smelled so damned good. I bit down on my lip and willed the ride to be over.
By the way, you’re going to be doing this all night—being with Matthew.
We arrived at the club. He pulled his bike to the back parking spaces and used his legs to maneuver it. I watched with more than a little bit of interest as his muscles clenched in their denim as he parked. When we got off the bike, I tried my hardest to avoid his gaze, thinking of all the impure thoughts I had while I was on it. Unfortunately, I had trouble getting my helmet off though and was forced to look at him. Or is that fortunately?
“Thanks,” I muttered as his fingers brushed my cheeks as he removed the helmet.
“You’re blushing.”
I turned away and tried to make something up. It didn’t go very well.
“It’s the cold.”
Actually, it’s the heat of you and the tension between us. But—
“Don’t be nervous. The people who come here are really nice. I mean, they can be crude, but they are nice.”
Matthew laughed and I forced a smile. The other people weren’t what I’m nervous about. Some people walked out of the front door and the music and bar noises came out of them.
“You still look nervous?”
I shrugged and started walking inside, deciding I was going to learn through a baptism by fire. I didn’t think I could talk about that with him. Not yet, at least.
The brotherhood from the members of the club, the fun-loving people that visit, the bright lights hand above with a smoke cover… it all came back to me from the few times I had made my way over. It smelled of beer and peanut shells and the occasional fried food.
Matthew led the way, occasionally stopping to hug people, before we even made it to the bar. And wouldn’t you know it, the usual bartender was there waiting for us.
“You show up now, after I have already been calling you over and over?” Zeke said to Matthew, who just flipped him off in response.
“Fuck off, I was busy watching our nephew. You know, the one you can’t be alone with because you’re too immature.”
“That’s not what they said. Besides, I’m the fun uncle, I don’t do bedtimes.”
They went like this for what seemed like an exorbitant amount of time, almost like they were testing me to see if I would actually speak up for myself. Eventually, though, Zeke finally turned to me when he probably realized I was an actual person.
“So you’re our new trainee?” Zeke said with a laugh.
“I guess I am.”
“Awesome. I’m taking a break.”
Shit, that quick? Fuck!
He tossed his rag at Matthew who called out after him, but Zeke was quickly out of ear shot. Much to my chagrin, Zeke left us with a new crowd of people asking for more drinks and such. Fortunately, Matthew quickly took care of it with a smile and slight conversation. I found a place to put my jacket and purse and waited for instructions.
I didn’t get any. Instead, Matthew resorted to just talking to everyone in front of him. Guess I am gonna have to figure it out on my own. Guess it’s trial by fire. I warned them I had no experience, but…
Well, too late now. You can’t exactly go home. You didn’t drive yourself.
I refilled beer pitchers, brought new bottles when they were empty, and poured whiskeys or bourbons with coke or sprite while pocketing tips along the way. I got a bit of a rush as the night went along, realizing it wasn’t all that bad at all. No one asked for a drink more complicated than a Long Island Iced Tea, and that was only once; everyone else ordered drinks that literally had the name of the ingredients in the menu.
What was bad, however, was watching Matthew.
He brought energy to the entire space, making people laugh easily. The other guys respected him, which in itself was nice to see.
What got me was the women. They had been eying me all night, wondering how I got here. The four Kinsmen brothers really made their brains go loopy. Not that I’m one to talk.
I avoided Matthew all night, but the women got his attention and easily held a conversation with their tits hanging over the bar and fake smiles blinding everyone.
It was annoying. It was really fucking annoying. It was more annoying than I cared to admit.
But, I knew Matthew didn’t belong to me and told myself to get a g
rip.
It didn’t do very well. Thankfully, the flow of making drinks and cleaning up made the duration of my shift go by pretty quickly, all things considered.
“See? It wasn’t that bad.”
Matthew hit the towel against my thigh when he came up behind me. It made me jump, even though I had to admit it felt pretty damn good.
I had been in the middle of counting the cash, but his actions made me lose count. The bar had almost cleared out; it was the pool tables and dart board area that still had people.
“Um, yeah.”
“Better than last club night.”
He firmed his lips and raised his brows, getting ready to say something that I knew would either arouse me or piss me off.
“Maybe it was you.”
Both? He licked his lips, his eyes doing that wandering thing again.
“What?”
He gave me a funny look that I couldn’t place, looking over me with his smolder again.
“Grace… you want me to spell it out?”
I backed up into the counter, feeling my palms sweat with his proximity. It was probably my awkwardness that made me not realize what Matthew was referring to, but his actions were making me feel…
Incredibly aroused.
“What were you going to say earlier, before we came in?”
He crossed his arms in front of me, blocking my view of anything else. All I saw were his forearms specked with hair and veins, the muscles throbbing as he moved.
“About what?” I said, playing dumb, even though I knew what he was talking about.
He cocked his head at me and shook his head. I really had no idea what he was referring to, and I think he really believed I was just fucking with him.
“I get nervous around you Matthew. Is that so hard to believe? I don’t remember, I really don’t.”
His lips curled into a slow smile that tugged me from the inside out.
“Yeah. I mean, no. But… I don’t see why.”
I looked down at the dirt specked floor. Now I was the one who wondered if he even got what I was referring to. How could he not?
“Because I used to like you,” I said, spilling it all out. “And now…”
“Now what?” he said, coming closer until he was all I can breathe.
“Now, I… I—”
“Mattie! Come to the office!”
Zeke shouted across the bar, and Matthew looked up in his direction, giving me the break of a century. He took one last look at me before he turned and walked away.
I just didn’t know if it was a good break or a bad break. The answer seemed to change every minute.
5
Matthew
I internally cursed Zeke for interrupting my conversation, which was just starting to get good.
Real fucking good, in fact.
The whole night, it was obvious that Grace was ignoring me. She was trying to make it look like she would rather talk to the random bar goer rather than talk to me.
Even when it was less busy, she just turned her back to me and pretended to fold rags that were already folded, count cash that had already been counted. At one point, I noticed she was counting an old tip jar full of coins no one paid attention to—even I thought it was decoration. She really stood there and counted stacks of pennies and dimes like it was her job.
At least the people at the bar liked her well enough, especially the guys. I had multiple moments of restraining myself from asking some of them to beat it when they stared for too long. Admittedly, I couldn’t blame them; in the outfit she had picked, she looked hot as hell.
In addition to her clothing, she had this cute little mini body with the perfect amount of meat on her bones to grab onto. Those hips of hers would drive anyone mad, especially me; she was like a physical old-fashioned coke bottle.
Riding here with her on my bike was a novelty on its own, her soft body pressed against the hardness of my back. I was lucky I stood behind the bar, because every time I caught a glimpse of her exposed naval or pert breasts, I was done for. She was also a natural with the customers; I was sure our sales doubled just because of her presence. She was naturally witty and had a sense of humor, but when I tried to talk to her, it was like she didn’t know how to talk. She couldn’t even admit that it was her that had led to all those tips.
I didn’t get it. We’d kissed and groped each other; I couldn’t imagine that would make it harder for her to talk to me, but apparently, it did somehow.
When closing time came, I was prepared to make my move. I wasn’t going to let her get on my bike without confessing how she really felt for me; she was going to have to either walk the long way home, or she was going to tell me what was on her mind. No more beating around the bush. No more dancing around the subject.
I got as far as her confessing she got nervous around me. That was actually more than I had expected so soon, but with that, I wasn’t about to stop. I pressed her to elaborate, I pressed her to tell the truth, I pressed her to confess her desire for me.
And then motherfucking Zeke cockblocked me.
I took another look at Grace, who was clearly relieved to have been interrupted. Admittedly, they usually didn’t call me in the office unless it was important, so I knew I had to go. Still, I was going to whup on Zeke when I got the chance—fucker ruined the chance for Grace and I to have an actual moment.
My boots stomped the old wood floors on the way back there, past a chortling Zeke. He knew he interrupted something important, but to him, it was funny. I can’t wait till you get a girl and I fucking make you look bad, buddy.
“What is it?”
I shut the door to Jaxson’s office behind me. Jaxson looked pissed to all hell right now. Only club business did that to him.
Serious club business. Deadly club business.
“We have a message from the Cavaro mafia line.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
I made the same blank face as Zeke when I leaned against the arm chair. Jaxson pulled up an email on the computer screen with an image attached. It didn’t take long for me to get a sickened feeling in my stomach, knowing what was likely on that image.
“Cavaro?” I said, seeing the subject line. “Isn’t that…”
“Yeah. Rosella’s family, or technically what’s left of it.”
Jaxson clicked on the paper clip image and up came a gruesome image, even by club standards. It was nasty and horrible and bloody as fuck. It was a harsh reminder that not everyone operated with the same principles the Kinsmen did.
“Jesus…” Zeke muttered, all joviality gone from his tone.
I stared blank faced at the image of a dead man wearing our prospect jacket. He was vaguely familiar.
Or, he would have been so if his head wasn’t bashed in. That, amazingly, was the least of the worry, horrible as that sounded.
No, my biggest concern was the text in the actual email.
“More will follow.”
“What does that mean?” I eventually asked after I had a chance to not lose my lunch and could form real words.
I leaned back from the screen and settled back onto the arm of the chair to take a deep breath. Jaxson, thankfully, closed the email and turned his chair to face us. He was a tough motherfucker and didn’t let much get to him, but even this seemed to have affected him a little bit.
“I don’t know. And I don’t want to find out either. I’m sending Beast out to see what he can find.”
We both nodded, glad someone not a Kinsmen was doing the dirty work here.
“What about Rosella?” Zeke said
Jaxson made a face, one that I suspected as much to do with the fact that he hadn’t considered the question as him being actually concerned about it.
“What about her? She’s with Simon out of town.”
Zeke waved his hand. That wasn’t a good enough answer, and I think Jaxson knew it too.
“Yeah, but she could still be in danger. They didn’t specify more of what is following, and
they didn’t like her very much last time we checked.”
Jaxson groaned under his breath.
“I’ll tell Simon,” Jaxson said, looking extremely disappointed that he had to do so. “But he shouldn’t tell her until we are sure. No one should know. This stays in the club.”
Jaxson looked at us with worry in his eyes. I actually felt bad for him. I would have no idea how to deal with this, but he dealt with the last mafia encounter just fine.
Except none of our guys had died in the process, and now someone had. He may have been a prospect, but he was still a part of the club.
“Agreed.”
If he was part of the club…
“What was his name?” I asked.
“Jason. He didn’t give us a last name. I think he was… running away from something.”
Jaxson got his far off look that only us, as his brothers, could know and understand. It was the look of wishing he had done more—the look of guilt.
“It wasn’t your fault, man.”
I reached out and clapped his shoulder. He gave me a short nod and cleared his throat.
“We could still give him a burial,” Zeke said. “Where is the body?”
Jaxson dropped his shoulder. It was like every question we asked was only making things worse.
“I don’t know. I had Walker try and track the sender earlier, but they didn’t have an IP address we could pin down. I have no idea where the body is, so we have no idea where they are either.”
Jesus… whoever the fuck did this…
Would know Rosella, so…
“Maybe Rosella knows”
They both gave me crazy looks. Admittedly, I wasn’t very keen on the idea of interrupting her honeymoon to ask where a body might be buried, but… well, I didn’t see a whole lot of other options.
“I mean she grew up in this mafia family, she has to know something.”
“They don’t share that kind of shit with anyone.”
“She wasn’t anyone. She was the possible successor to her dad’s crime empire, he would have told her some things.”
