by Monroe, Evie
Chapter Seventeen
Hart
I decided to give them both some space.
Not that I didn’t keep a watch on them. But based on what I heard from the other Cobras, with the Fury, it was business as usual. Based on the intel I pulled from Joel’s phone, Fury didn’t have a clue that Joel was talking to us. It seemed like we were in the clear.
So I figured it was a good idea to cool it with Charlie for the next few days. Not that I didn’t think about her.
And I guessed they were thinking about me, too. About the same time I got a text from Joel, telling me he had intel on the Fury, I got another text from Charlie. It said: Are you avoiding us?
I’d been at the Lucky Leaf, helping Nix on an engine rebuild. Wiping the grease off my hands on an old rag, I typed in: Just thought it was better to cool it. For your sake.
A moment later, she responded with: Well, don’t. I need to talk to you.
As I was staring at my phone, Nix nudged me. We’d finished up for the day and we’d planned on going to The Wall with Jet for a beer. “Hey. You coming?”
I pointed at my phone. “I’ll be there later. Our kid might have some info.”
Nix raised an eyebrow. “Want me to come with?”
I shook my head. We’d taken too many risks, having the kid at the clubhouse and also my apartment. I’d made the decision to meet with him somewhere outside of town. Outside of town would take a while to get to, since Aveline Bay wasn’t exactly a small town. I’d have to cross the bridge and head north. “Better if I do this myself.”
“Suit yourself. We’ll see you later,” he called over his shoulder. He strapped on his helmet and rode off on his bike.
As much as I wanted to see Charlie, she’d have to wait. I couldn’t just show up at her apartment. After my conversation with Joel, I felt the burning need to keep her safe. I texted Joel and told him to meet me under the bridge of the highway, outside of town. It was the most remote place I could think of.
About forty minutes later, I pulled off the highway and rolled to a stop under the bridge. I spotted Joel waiting for me, still wearing a denim kutte with the Hell’s Fury prospect patch on it, smoking a cigarette, which he stubbed out when I got there.
“What’s going on?” I asked him, sitting back on my bike as I unstrapped my helmet. “You think they know anything?”
He shook his head. “No fucking way. The Fury’s a mess right now. Bruiser’s been dead a while, and now with Slade gone, too, they’re missing their president and their Veep. It’s chaos. They’re all fighting for who should take the reins. A fistfight broke out in the clubhouse yesterday, which turned into a knife fight. There was blood all over the place.”
“Jesus,” I laughed. “So who do you think it’s gonna be?”
“Probably Scar. He’s got most of the support, and he’s been there the longest. But who knows? All I know is that it’s not a good place to be right now. Total disorganization.”
I rubbed the stubble on my chin. “So they’re not after you, now?”
“Nah. They didn’t even pay attention to me.”
“So they’re probably not after us, either, then.” I was thinking out loud.
“Yeah. They got bigger fish to fry.”
“But eventually, they’ll come after us,” I said, tilting my head up, then slipping off my sunglasses and staring at him. “So we can’t let our guard down. Keep watching your back, kid. All right?”
He nodded. “Right. So, did you talk to the guys about me joining?”
I had. The guys had been all for it, and of course, Jet had acted like it was all his idea, even though he hadn’t lifted a pinky finger. The only one who wasn’t sure was Nix, but that was because he’d nearly taken a bullet from him.
“So, yeah,” I said, “If you want to do it . . .”
“I do.” He sounded more eager now. More sure of himself.
“Well, we’re all in on you becoming a prospect. We just might want to wait a little bit until things are over with the Fury, if you know what I mean. Because even if they’re in disarray, if you turn up suddenly wearing our patch, you probably ain’t gonna be seeing home again.”
“Yeah. Makes sense. But when’ll that be?”
I shrugged. “No clue. I’m gonna talk to Cullen. I think right now we have enough intel, so you won’t have to keep playing both sides. So if he agrees, we keep you the fuck away from them until we get things settled.”
He nodded coolly, but a stiff breeze rushed under the bridge right then, making him shudder. He steeled himself and reached into the pocket of his kutte for another cigarette. I reached for my own and lit his and mine with my lighter.
“Sounds good,” he said, his voice lighter as if maybe he’d been worried I’d change my mind. “But what about Char?”
“Keep an eye on your sister. As much as you can.”
“And you?”
He was testing me. “Yeah. I will, too. The Cobras protect all the families, and that goes for her, too.”
“No. I mean, have you called her. Since that night?” he asked. “Because I can tell. She’s getting anxious. She thinks you’re blowing her off. That better not be the case.”
I rolled my eyes to the sky. “It’s not, as a matter of fact. I plan to call your sister after this meeting.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “As long as you’re okay with it?”
He looked kinda helpless when he said, “Don’t think I have a choice.”
“You do. I’m sure if you told her you didn’t want her seeing me anymore, I’d have to believe she’d probably do what you told her.”
He smirked. “And if she kicked you to the curb, you’d kick my ass. I know how that works.”
“First thing you need to know if you’re gonna be a Cobra,” I said, laughing, “is that we aren’t too fond of kicking our brother’s asses.”
The smirk became a smile. A real one, the first I’d seen on the kid since I met him. He was about to say something when he stopped and lifted his phone out of his pocket, checking the display. “Shit. It’s Scar,” he said, his voice small.
“Answer it,” I directed.
He put the phone to his ear. “Hey man . . .” he said, speaking in a stilted, nervous tone, the way he’d spoken to me, before he’d gotten more comfortable. “Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I can be there. Give me twenty.”
He hung up the phone, a look of dread on his face.
“Fuck me,” he muttered, trying to stick the phone back in his pocket. He missed the first try. “FUCK. ME.”
“They need you?”
He nodded. “Yeah. To help out with some of their bikes, or something. I’ve got to go to their clubhouse.”
“All right.”
He walked to his bike like his boots were made of lead. “Have fun with my sister,” he said. I couldn’t tell if he was teasing me or if he really meant it.
Then he took off. I finished my cigarette, stubbed it out on the ground, and followed the way he’d gone about five minutes later, heading south, back into Aveline Bay.
I had a girl I couldn’t wait to see.
Chapter Eighteen
Charlotte
Two days after I last saw Hart, I was going fucking insane.
It wasn’t anything new to me. I’d met guys, gone crazy over them, only to have them drop off the face of the earth. The thing was, Hart didn’t seem like that kind of guy.
I got the feeling he was keeping a respectful distance because of Jojo, and I got confirmation of that after I finally bit the bullet and texted him. After that, I told him I really needed to speak to him.
Then, no answer.
He may have been trustworthy and loyal, but he knew how to play infuriating mind games like all the other guys.
It was nearly nine, and the vet hadn’t given me any hours until the weekend, so I was sitting in bed, watching mindless reality television and wondering how I was going to make rent, when my phone buzzed. I was hoping for a message from Jojo, since he’d left a few hou
rs before, to see friends, he’d said. I wasn’t sure what that meant.
But instead, I saw Hart’s name on the display.
I rocketed up in my bed and read the message. Can you meet me?
I looked across the room, at my reflection in the mirror above the dresser. In the greenish glow of the television, I had quite the zombie-ish appearance. I smoothed down my flyaway hair and wiped at my cheeks, then typed in: Where?
I licked my lips, waiting for a response. You know where Green Grove Park is?
Of course I knew Green Grove Park, a ten-minute walk from me, but not much of a park anymore. Heavily wooded and behind a housing development, it was home to a dilapidated metal swing set and a bunch of really old grills and camping sites. Always empty of picnickers, now, most of the time it was where kids went to get high.
I figured he must really be worried about the other motorcycle club seeing us together if he wanted to meet there. I typed in: Y.
Picnic tables. Fifteen minutes.
He sounded so very authoritative, I had to wonder if he was used to ordering people around and getting them to do his bidding. I’d only known him for a few days, and yet, he had me jumping when he said jump.
Heart pounding in my chest, I sprang out of bed. In a flash I’d slipped into denim shorts and a tank top, stuck my hair in a messy bun, blushed my cheeks and glossed my lips, even though we were meeting in the dark.
Didn’t matter. I couldn’t wait to see him.
Oh, yeah. And talk about how to protect Jojo. On my way out the door, I looked at my phone and realized that in my excitement, I’d missed a text from Jojo. It said: I’ll be home around eleven.
I smiled and checked the time. Two more hours. At least something Hart had said to him had clicked. Still, I had to wonder, if he wasn’t with Hart . . . what was he doing? Was he with that other club? I hated thinking of him lying to them, digging himself deeper into trouble.
I locked up the apartment and walked to the main road, headed for the park, telling myself that I needed to concentrate on getting Jojo out of the MC mess he’d gotten himself into. I steeled myself to be good and do my best to ignore Hart’s muscular body, his low, sexy voice that seemed to vibrate deep inside me, the delicious way he smelled.
Jojo. Saving Jojo. That was the important thing.
I’d forgotten once before, and it had led to the most embarrassing situation of my life. If Jojo had walked in five minutes later, things would’ve been even worse.
I swallowed hard, trying to steel myself when I came to an asphalt path, barred by a metal gate to keep cars from entering. A sign said, Green Grove Park Open from Sunrise to Sunset, but it was so faded by the sun and obscured by tree branches, it was barely visible.
I knew this park well, because when I was a kid, one of my foster parents had enrolled me in a summer camp here. In the dark, though, it looked like a completely different place. As I walked away from the glow of the streetlamps, I found myself in almost perfect blackness.
I knew the general direction of the picnic tables but was pretty sure I wouldn’t find them until I ran straight into one. I fanned my hands out and walked slowly into the depths of the park. Somewhere above, an owl hooted.
It occurred to me that this was damn stupid. Here I was, about to meet a strange guy in the middle of a dark, deserted place, without any backup. This was a recipe for trouble.
The thought didn’t stop me, though. I guess I wanted trouble. I slowed when, in the distance, I saw the tiny fiery tip of a cigarette. A small shaft of moonlight filtered through the trees overhead, illuminating the chrome handlebars of a motorcycle. I took in a shaky breath. “Hart?”
A moment later, my eyes adjusted to the minimal light, and I saw him, motioning for me. He was sitting on the top of one of the picnic tables, smoking a cigarette. “Yeah. Come here.”
I did, careful not to trip over a tree root or the crumbling asphalt of the pathway. As I did, I looked around and rubbed my arms. It was a lot chillier here than I’d expected.
Before I could get much closer, Hart flicked the cigarette away and reached out, snaked a hand around my waist, and pulled me to him. I smelled the scent of his cigarette, mingling with his own delicious aftershave, and as much as I wanted to melt into him, I stiffened. “That’s not what I came here for.”
It didn’t stop him. He dipped his head and buried it in my neck, smelling me, then he delivered feather-like kisses to my collarbone. “It’s okay,” he said, his breath warm on my cool skin and so inviting. “It’s what I came here for.”
I couldn’t stop him. It felt too good. I tilted my head back to the moon to give him better access and leaned in to him. “Why didn’t you call me?”
His voice was muffled against my skin. “Told you. I wanted to make sure Joel was okay with this.”
He trailed his lips up the side of my neck, took my earlobe into his mouth, and sucked, tonguing it gently. I inhaled deeply, before I lost all train of thought. “But . . .he told me you wanted him to join your club.”
“Mmm-hmm,” he growled out. With one hand he pushed my hair back, the other had gone under my tank top and to caress the small of my back. I stood between his legs, my hands on each strong thigh. I could feel his hardening cock against my stomach.
“But I don’t want that,” I said.
He ignored me and just kept nuzzling my neck, sucking on my ear, slowly undoing me. Soon I wouldn’t even know my own name.
“Hart. Stop,” I said. He didn’t. I put both hands on his chest and pushed away. “Listen to me. Stop.”
I couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but I sensed his body tense, and he let out a groan of disappointment. “What? I thought you were gonna let the kid make his own decisions.”
I swallowed. “I don’t think you understand. Yes, he wants to be like you. But he isn’t like you. He’s afraid.”
He let out a breath. “You don’t think I wasn’t afraid when I prospected, too? He just needs to grow some balls.”
“No, he doesn’t!” I fired back. “He’s had enough trauma in his life. Trauma from being tossed around from place to place. No one to care for him. No one to love him. Maybe for once in his life it’d be nice to have some stability, don’t you think? That’s what I’ve been trying to give him.”
His voice was low. “And you? What did you have?”
I didn’t want to go into my sad story, which was probably worse than my brother’s. I just shook my head. “He’s not equipped for this life. And I really worry that being in between clubs is going to take a toll on him.”
“Is that what he said?”
I nodded. “I talked to him the other night. He wants to be a part of something. And he likes you and wants to make you happy. But he’s afraid if he turns down your invitation, you’ll turn your back on him.”
“He said that?”
“He didn’t have to. I can tell. I know him, Hart.”
He was silent for a long moment. “So what are you saying?”
“I’m saying that if there isn’t any way to get out of this web he’s tangled himself up in, then I’m going to take him out of the city. He doesn’t think we can possibly make it with no money and no support, but if he’s in danger, then we have to go.”
“No, you don’t. If he’s a Cobra, we’ll protect him.”
“But he’s not a Cobra. He’s playing tough around you but he’s not you. He’s not some guy who likes to go around causing trouble and being all gangster. He’s a good kid, Hart.”
He came back right away, his voice hard-edged. “What do you mean? That’s not what the Cobras are, Charlie. Maybe the Fury was, but we ain’t the Fury.”
“But . . .” I stammered, feeling him draw me closer. I knew he was looking at me, and even though I could see very little, I couldn’t raise my eyes up to his.
I felt his hands come around me, digging into the pockets of my shorts and caressing my ass. “You know me, right? Am I really such a bad guy?”
“No,�
�� I admitted. “You’re not. But I don’t care. I can’t do this. I need him out of this life completely.”
“You can’t force him.”
I laughed sadly. “You know I can. Yes, he might be pissed for a while and give me crap, but eventually he’ll feel guilty, and he’ll do what I tell him to do. He always does. That’s what tells me he’s still has some of that good kid left in him. And I’m not going to give up on him yet.”
He pulled his hands out of my pockets and straightened. “So that’s it? You’re leaving.”
“Yeah. I think I have to.”
“And I think you’re making a mistake.”
I was glad it was dark. Because if I’d seen those light hazel eyes of his, those eyes that made me do the things I never thought I could do, I knew I’d be a goner. “But what you think,” I said, “doesn’t matter.”
Chapter Nineteen
Hart
Charlie was as pig-headed as they came. Which only made me want her more. She was talking some ridiculous shit about taking her brother and hitting the road, leaving Aveline Bay altogether. How did she think that was going to help her situation?
“What I think doesn’t matter?” I challenged. “Really?”
“Yes. I have to do what’s best for my family.”
“Joel’s going to fight you.”
“I know. But eventually he’ll come around. So that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I want you to stop encouraging him about this Cobras stuff. I want you to tell him that I’m right. That you think the best decision is for us to leave. If we’re both telling him the same thing, he’ll listen.”
I let out a laugh. “Are you kidding me? That’s not the best decision. Not by a long shot.”
Her voice went sour. “Why? You think cruising around here, waiting to be shot is better?”
“No. It just ain’t that simple.”
“Oh? Why not? It’s got to be simpler than staying around here as target practice for a couple of motorcycle clubs. He’s a kid. This way, he can get a fresh—”
“Okay. Hold on. Hold the fuck on. He’s not a kid, Charlie. He’s a grown man. He goes with you because he feels guilty about pissing you off, but sooner or later you’re going to realize you can’t lead him around on a leash for the rest of his life.”