Kinsmen MC (Complete Series)

by J. C. Allen

  I laughed out of shock but was feeling a little more than mortified. Matthew only grinned, handling the situation with ease. I was afraid of what he was about to say—if he said yes, I might just collapse in shock and a feeling of being overwhelmed. If he said no, then it would have been the rational answer, but a part of me would still nevertheless wonder what had happened..

  “No, it’s just the right thing to do.”

  It was probably the less reassuring of the possible answers, but he said it in such a calm and warm way that I wasn’t as bothered as I might have been otherwise.

  “But Dad does it for Mom, and they love each other. Jaxson does it for Isabelle.”

  To his mind, the logic was sound—and it wasn’t the craziest thing I’d ever heard a little kid say. But I had to take charge to show we both were on the same page here.

  “It’s not always about love, Michael. Men are supposed to be kind to women and that means opening their doors for them sometimes. You should open the door for any woman you meet—doesn’t mean you love her. Just means you’re a gentleman.”

  “Hm. Okay.”

  He shrugged and went back to playing a game on his phone. He was so casual, there was no way he realized he had just almost blown my head off.

  “Nice explanation,” Matthew said softly.

  “I’m used to it,” I said in a quiet voice as well. “Imagine what I had to do when he asked me what the difference between girls and boys are.”

  We both laughed at that. Suddenly, I was finding it more easy being around him now.

  I was right to order something small, as my jeans tightened with every hot second that Matthew stared me down. I wished he didn’t have to be so hot, that he wasn’t so distracting. It was even worse seeing him interact with Michael, because he was too damn good with kids.

  If he were a regular guy, fine. But he wasn’t. He was a sexy biker man, who was somehow dangerous but not really, and being in his presence was like discovering new parts of myself that I didn’t know even existed.

  It was easier to be around him now as he interacted with Michael, but that didn’t necessarily make it easy.

  “That’s a lot of syrup, hun.”

  I stopped Michael from pouring all the syrup the diner had on his pancakes. He gave me a funny look, but I shook my head at him, taking the jar from him and setting it on the other side.

  “You’re strict.”

  Matthew nudged my foot with his again under the table. Oh, so you’re on his side in this now too?

  “I’m not,” I said with a smirk. “I just don’t want him giving himself diabetes or something.”

  As if to show Michael whose side he was on,, Matthew poured enough syrup on his own waffles that it amounted to half a bag of sugar. Michael literally cheered as this happened, and I was reduced to wondering where it all went wrong with a mock eye roll.

  “How can you eat like that and look the way you do?”

  “It’s just how I am,” he said with a wink. Long as that fat doesn’t go where it shouldn’t…

  “Am I like that too?” Michael said, swinging his legs.

  “Yeah lil man, we all are,” Matthew said with a high five.

  “So I can have more syrup,” he said, cocking an eyebrow at me.”

  Well, lost that one. It would do no good for me to try and stop him. I wasn’t his mom—though Rosella would kill me if she knew.

  He drenched his pancakes in syrup and dug in. I stared at my yogurt parfait, wishing I had also ordered an enormous meal—but, then again, would Matthew really find a bloated look sexy? It works out either way..

  The meal went through comfortably and with ease. Michael, now that he was off his phone, had a more active role in conversation, preventing Matthew and I from having to engage in awkward, flirtatious conversation at a controlled audible level. I was kind of grateful for it, but I knew the peace would only last so long. He’s going to get me to start acting a certain way very soon.

  “You had enough, Michael?” Matthew asks.

  “Yeah, I’m full. Can we go now?” he said before adding something about being excited to play games.

  I had to roll my eyes at that one. If his Mom knew how much he spent on the phone…

  “I’m going to the bathroom,” I said as I slid out of the booth.

  “I got the bill. Meet you out front.”

  Matthew’s eyes lingered on mine. I forced myself to look away before I tripped and fell because of some sudden weak knees.

  There was nothing unusual about the bathroom until I exited and was blocked by someone. At first, I thought it was accidental, like he was waiting and just didn’t realize he was in the way. The guy was large, much taller than me, and as wide as the door frame.

  Then I saw his face and gasped in shock.

  He had tattoos going up one side of his neck, but that was not what made my breath hitch. It was the scar going up the other side of his cheek into his forehead. His hair was dark and long, shaggy at the ends. From his eyes, I could tell he was older, maybe somewhere in his forties. I shivered and crossed my arms as if I was protecting myself.

  It was the classic case of getting the chills just from seeing someone. I needed to get away, get to Matthew, and put my arms around Michael.

  “Excuse me,” I said, trying to step around him.

  Then he deliberately moved to block me. My eyes widened with panic. Now this was not just a case of some huge man not realizing his size—this was a case of actual entrapment and harassment.

  “You’re with Kinsmen.”

  “What?”

  I tried to look around him for Matthew, but I couldn’t see him.

  “Matt.”

  “No?”

  I knew well enough to lie here, but I hated that I couldn’t do it very convincingly. The guy would see right through me—and the way his eyes narrowed on me, it was unfortunately obvious that he did.

  “I saw you with the kid, you tell him—”

  Out of nowhere, Matthew grabbed the guy by his shoulder and pushed him up against the wall with his forearm pinning him there. What the fuck did I get myself into…

  “What the fuck are you doing here, Ryder?” Matthew snarled.

  I had never seen him angry. Never seen anyone that angry. His neck was pulsing with veins as he pressed harder. The guy only grinned, as if he enjoyed Matthew’s hopefully-not-futile attempts to hurt him.

  “Get out of here Grace,” Matthew said, not even looking my way when he said it.

  “What’s going on?”

  Matthew’s head snapped to me, and the blaze of his eyes made me cower back.

  “I said go.”

  Not going to question it a second time.

  I scurried away, saving a hurried glance over my shoulder before I continued forward. I got to the front, where I found Michael putting coins in a gumball machine. He seemed blissfully unaware of anything going on, and I was determined to keep it that way.

  “Hey hun, let’s go wait outside.”

  When we hurriedly got outside, I spotted a bike on the other end of the parking lot that was a lot scarier looking than Matthew’s, with spikes on the handlebars. I figured that guy was from one of their rival clubs or something. I shivered with fear at the guy and remembering Matthew like that.

  “Where’s Uncle Matt?” Michael said, leaning against the car door since we didn’t have the key.

  “Um. The bathroom.”

  What was I going to do, tell him that he had someone pinned against the wall for threatening me? The longer we could keep him away from the darker side of life, the better; at least, as his babysitter, that was the approach I was going to take.

  “He probably had too much protein. Makes him shit.”

  “Michael!”

  I gaped at him in shock. What sorts of things was Rosella saying around him?

  “What? He said it.”

  “Cursing is bad,” I said, though admittedly, in just about any other circumstance, I would have had to f
ight a laugh at a little kid saying “shit.” “Don’t do it around your mom, she’ll pull her pretty hair out.”

  I looked up at the sky and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself. The fact that I wasn’t hearing anything from inside the restaurant led me to believe there was no fight going on, but then I remembered how the big man had just smiled at Matthew when pinned against the wall. What if something had happened? What if…

  “When is she coming back?”

  Thank you, Michael, for the distraction.

  “A few days. You miss her?”

  “Yeah, a little,” he said as he chewed his bubblegum, downplaying his concern. He’s developing into such a guy.

  “She misses you too. We can call her tonight okay?”

  Before Michael could respond, though, the door to the diner swung open, allowing the chatter from the inside of the diner to flood out before stopping. I looked at Matthew walking out, looking half angry and half normal now. He didn’t have any noticeable cuts or bruises on his face, so at least the encounter hadn’t become violent.

  Presumably.

  “Hey, sorry about that,” he said, directing his words mostly to Michael.

  He put him in the car and then stood over me at the passenger door. I looked up into his clear eyes, pressed against the door as he hovered over me. His gaze was pointed and intense for a while… before his lips curled into a half smile.

  “I yelled at you.”

  I wasn’t mad about that. I was just trying to make sense of it.

  “You yelled at me,” I repeated, mostly because I didn’t know what else to say.

  “I’m sorry. That guy…”

  “He was scary as shit,” I blurted out.

  He chuckled, almost too lighthearted for what had happened.

  “Yeah. I just saw him with you and I—I got really angry, clearly. He’s a bad guy.”

  You don’t say, Matthew?

  “He seemed like it. You want to tell me who he is?”

  He blinked back at me, chewing his lip before taking a deep breath.

  “Later,” he said, much to my disappointment. “Let me take you somewhere after this, I’ll leave Michael at my mom’s. We can talk.”

  “Talk about what?”

  “Normal stuff. A… we can go on a real date.”

  He was avoiding the question, I knew. Maybe he was trying to make up for what had happened by promising a good time later. Maybe he really feared the guy and was trying to protect me.

  They all seemed like too real possibilities. But right now, we needed to at least get Michael out of here, if not also get ourselves out of there. So, for the sake of everyone’s safety, I just went along with what he said.

  “Okay.”

  “Great.”

  I awkwardly got in with my tight as hell jeans. I then watched him drive out of the corner of my eye, taking us away from the danger and the frightening moment.

  I could only hope that this transition from the hell of getting pinned would end with a heavenly date. I’d dealt with enough roller coaster shit this week.

  “Thank you, that’s really nice of you.”

  I stood before my landlord, quite grateful for the sudden change in events.

  “Sure,” he said as he headed out. “It ain’t worth the trouble.”

  He came to tell me that he had another tenant ready to move in, so I could basically evict myself and only owe him this month’s rent. I agreed, saving myself two month’s worth of rent. Financially, at least, I was now in a much better spot than I had been even just this morning.

  But now, I didn’t know where I was going to stay that’s any better. Well, I do…

  I was just worried about how that would go over.

  I dressed in something way more comfortable than for breakfast since he was coming back with his bike. I had on leggings and a loose white v-neck with a lace camisole win, and I let my hair down too.

  Just as I start to feel like I was getting on a grip on the apartment situation, my phone buzzed with a message from him, saying he is outside. I got that warm flutter of nerves that was only enhanced by the fact that I’d soon be asking him about living together. I headed downstairs and met him.

  “You look sexy.”

  I would say he did too, but I was not that bold to say it out loud. Faded jeans, gray shirt, and his cut… he is what sexy is.

  Fucking perfect.

  “Thanks. Where are we going?”

  “Something cheap,” he said with a sarcastic shrug. “Took Michael a hundred and fifty dollars to be satisfied today.”

  I giggled as he helped me put on my helmet. His fingertips brushed my chin and his eyes fly to mine. We paused for one moment… and then he kissed me. It took me by surprise, but I gladly kissed him back. His lips were warm and soft, and they coaxed me slowly until his tongue swiped mine.

  “For the road.”

  He tapped my nose and grinned after breaking the kiss, and I was woozy getting on the bike. That’s one way to start a date. Holy shit.

  He didn’t drive for long, as our destination couldn’t have been more than ten minutes away. I held on tight like I always did, inhaling his warm scent shamelessly. If I knew that good things could last forever—or at least his gas tank—I know I would’ve asked him to drive as long as he could go.

  “What’s this?”

  I looked up at a bar with bright neon lights that I had never seen before.

  “A bar.”

  “Well obviously.”

  He chuckled and held the door open for me, music flooding out as we walked in. We sat at the bar, and he greeted the bartender like he knew her.

  “How do you know her?” I said casually, sipping at my amaretto sour.

  “I met her through a friend at the club, and I invested some money to help her open this place up.”

  “Oh.”

  A question came to mind that I’m sure painted me as some paranoid, slightly obsessive date, but when the question came, I couldn’t help but ask it.

  “Did you, um… date her or something?”

  He gave me a funny look before laughing. I knew he wasn’t doing it to mock me, so the answer would be favorable, but still—it was a little bit unnerving. I just had to make sure for my own paranoid brain’s sake.

  “No Grace, she’s a family friend. Kind of like a cousin.”

  I felt both relieved and dumb as I glanced over at her pouring a beer. She was very pretty, a bombshell blond kind of look, but the more I looked at her, the more I could see the family resemblance.

  “I like that you’re jealous.”

  The statement caught me off guard.

  “I’m not—”

  “You are. I was today, seeing you with Ryder.”

  Oh, that. Yeah, let’s talk about that, Matthew, since you didn’t before.

  “What was that about?”

  He took a swig of his beer and shook his head.

  “He’s in one of our rival clubs. We don’t get along.”

  “I got that much,” I said. I could have inferred that even if he didn’t say anything here. “He asked if I was with you.”

  “Yeah, he didn’t like us very much. Same goes for us. I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”

  He’s still not answering my question. Or if he did, he answered it in the most indirect way possible. This can be a little annoying.

  “Did you think that I would?”

  He assured me with his soft eyes.

  “No. Not on my watch.”

  I fully believed that. If there was one thing Matthew was good for—and, to be clear, he was good for many things—it was ensuring I was physically safe. He might not have been able to protect me from heartbreak, but the offer of living space and his efforts at the diner assured me I’d never get hurt.

  “I told you. I like you, Grace.”

  I bit my lip and smiled softly. Something about those words just makes me unnaturally giddy.

  Probably because no one has ever told me that before
.

  I could think of no better time to say what I needed to. And so, before I could even think about it, I blurted out my question.

  “Would that affect your offer to live with you? Just until I got back on my feet.”

  I swallowed with nerves.

  “No. I told you that you could.”

  For as nervous as I was about asking that question, he seemed equally unfazed. It was like I had just asked him if I could have a sip of his beer—he was almost too casual about it.

  “My landlord told me I would only have to pay this month and that I could move out.”

  “Good, that place is a shit hole.”

  I laughed. He really was serious about helping me—and serious about this not being a big deal.

  “You need help moving out?” he asked.

  “No,” I said, mostly because I didn’t want to press my luck—even though he’d been the one to suggest it. “I don’t have much.”

  The conversation ended, enabling us to finally get to a real date with all tough conversations out of the way. We shared drinks, played some pool and darts, and traded plenty of jokes, some funny, some groan-worthy, all of them reminding me how much I liked this guy. We vibed with each other, and I had never felt like that before with any man. I’m never going to stop thinking about him; romantically, physically. I want him.

  I need him.

  I couldn’t help myself as I asked the next question that I knew would lead to something more.

  “Is Michael still with your Mom?”

  I stood in front of him, practically hanging on his body as his hands were on my hips. He swung a stray hair behind my ear and cupped my face.

  “Mhm.”

  He kissed me. It was all the answer I needed.

  “Lets go back to your place then.”

  Matthew smiled. We both knew what was going to happen.

  Hopefully, we were both ready.

  “Let’s go.”

  His house was exactly like I thought it would be.

  Subtle, manly, but with character. His living room was a mix of gray loungers, and the kitchen was fairly clean, save a few dishes.

  But these observations were made in passing as we headed to the bedroom. I didn’t want to put myself in the spot where I never got there because I kept delaying and waiting for a move to be made. No more only jerking off. No more only making out.