Pulling her dainty body into my arms, I directed her legs around my waist. I climbed to my feet, slightly leaning back on the wall behind me. With my hands under her ass, I slowly pushed into her opening, filling her tightness as gingerly as I could. She gasped, her eyes flying open as I bottomed out in her. Holding her right there, I pulled her body more toward mine, letting our lips finally connect. I rocked her and her kisses quickened ever so slightly with each thrust. Her walls tightened around my cock as I throbbed deep inside her.
“Oh, fuck, Bear!” She cried into my ear as her teeth sank down into my shoulder.
I roared out Scarlett’s name, slamming harder and harder into her.
It was the best climax of my life, the longest, most euphoric ending to an encounter I could imagine ever having.
As I lowered her to her feet, she just sat down on the linoleum floor. “I don’t think my legs work yet,” Scarlett remarked as she looked up at me.
Sinking to sit with her, I wrapped her back up in my arms. “I’ll carry you for the rest of the day, if need be.”
Chapter 7
Scarlett
Bear and I spent the rest of the day being lazy, enjoying each other’s company. Lying on the couch, stuffing my third slice of deep-dish pizza into my mouth while wearing a pair of Bear’s red plaid boxers and a worn-out Metallica shirt with a hole the size of Texas in the left armpit, I couldn’t picture myself happier.
My life had fallen apart not even a blink of an eye before. My marriage had been ripped apart at the seams. All of my possessions were still with my cheating scumbag of a husband. My body was swollen and bruised from him running me off the road, and I still had a pounding headache. I had no idea where my cellphone or wallet was.
None of it mattered. It all seemed so pointless when I tried to think about it.
All that mattered in that moment was the feeling of Bear’s skin on mine. The delectableness of the pepperonis that were making my taste buds do a little jig in my mouth. The lingering weakness in my knees from the mind-altering, awe-inspiring, earth-shattering orgasm that lasted longer than I could hold my breath.
That was what mattered to me.
One minute, I was lost without anything in my life. The next, I felt like I was handed a second chance on a silver platter—well, it was more like it was gift-wrapped in leather and covered in motor oil, but still.
There was one problem: I had lied to Bear. It was not a complete lie, but a lie was still a lie, even in the smallest sense of the word. I hadn’t meant to; it was completely innocent, but I needed to set the record straight. I knew he would get angry. I knew it was going to be a terrible conversation to have, but I couldn’t let that stop me.
I swallowed hard. I grabbed the remote from Bear’s hand, turning the television off. It was time.
“Bear, I have to tell you something.” I shifted in my seat, scooting away from him a bit.
His hand landed on my thigh. “You can tell me anything, sweetheart.”
Right as I was about to spit the words out, Bear’s cellphone started vibrating in his pocket. With a grumble, he leaned over and kissed my cheek. “I have to get this, darlin’.”
I sighed and shooed him away. “I understand.”
“Knox?” Bear started to pace in the space between the wall unit and the coffee table. “I don’t care what the customer’s other mechanic said,” he grumbled.
He stopped dead, staring at me. “Where’s Jaxon? Can’t he handle this?”
Bear gripped the end of his beard and pulled down as he reluctantly gave in to the request on the other end of the line. “Fine. I’ll be in shortly, but I am going to have your head for this one, fuckface.”
He sat on the stained oak table, grabbing my hands in his. “How about you put on some of those clothes Jaxon’s old lady let you borrow and we take a ride up to the shop?”
I pouted, throwing my hands over my face like a child. “But you promised you didn’t have to work today.”
“Please. I promise I’ll make it up to you.” Before I could protest, Bear’s arms were under me and he was walking up the stairs to his bedroom.
“I would have given in. You don’t have to carry me everywhere to make me do what you want.” After Bear set me down, I grabbed the pair of black cotton shorts and pink tank top out of the grocery bag Jaxon had given me.
“Maybe I just like doing it.” Bear’s hand gently slapped my ass before I could get the shorts all the way on.
“All right. I might be able to get used to that.”
“You’re going to have to, darlin’. You said it yourself earlier: you’re mine now. That means I can pick you up any time I want.”
Without warning, I was back in Bear’s arms, being held up high in the air above his head. I loved the sight of his muscles flexing under his tight shirt and cut as he manhandled me like a little doll.
He set me down gently after making sure to kiss me from my forehead to my lips. “Get ready, sweetheart. The guys are waiting for us so I can deal with that douchebag of a customer for them.”
“Let me just brush my teeth and then I’ll be ready to head out.”
I ducked into the bathroom with the clear plastic bag from the hospital that contained my few belongings. After scrubbing my teeth and washing my face, I ran my fingers over my hair and recoiled from my hideous appearance in the mirror over the sink. I had scrapes and greenish-yellow bruises all over my face and down my neck. Looking down, I saw the same injuries were covering most of my legs and arms. Up until that point, I hadn’t cared because I was hidden from the general public at the hospital, where it was normal to be injured and grotesque. Now, though, I was going to have to go into public, meet Bear’s friends, possibly run into someone I knew. A sinking feeling took over my stomach as I tried to compose myself.
I slunk out of the bathroom with my hands covering my face.
“What is it now?” Bear asked while peeling my fingers away from my eyes.
“I’m hideous,” I whined with the slightest hint of a giggle laced in the words. I knew how ridiculous I sounded, but I couldn’t help it—I felt utterly ghoulish.
“Psh.” He tucked me into his side as he walked me out of the bedroom. “I don’t think that could ever be possible.”
“I don’t know if I should go out in public like this. People might think you beat me.” It came out as a tease, but I was dead serious. It wasn’t the craziest notion in the world.
“I’ll just tell people you fell down the stairs.”
I stood with my feet planted firmly in the dirt next to Bear’s Harley. “Are you sure you don’t mind being seen with me?”
He rolled his eyes and put a helmet on me. “I promise I do not care what you look like. I am going to be showing you off to everyone that will listen to me.” After fastening the chin strap, Bear pecked my lips.
“Okay. That’s the end of it, I promise, but on our way home, can we stop and at least grab some makeup so I can cover this black eye that refuses to go away?”
“Yes, of course, sweetheart.”
Bear got onto his hog then helped me get on the back. I hadn’t ridden on the back of a motorcycle since I tried to teach Jasper how to ride when we were first dating. He was awful, and after two lessons, I refused to let him on my bike ever again. All his friends teased him for years, saying his girl was more of a man that he ever could be. I used to think they were just being jerks, but they were definitely right.
I hated that Bear didn’t even ask about what I had wanted to tell him, but I knew he was distracted by work and had no idea how big of an issue I had built the situation up to being in my head. I reminded myself that I would get another chance to talk with him about everything, but it kept gnawing at the back of my mind.
* * *
As Bear pulled into the parking lot of the shop, my heart sank into the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. I slammed my eyes shut and buried my face deep down into Bear’s back, praying
Jasper hadn’t seen me from the front seat of his car, which was parked out in front of the garage.
“Pull around the back,” I was finally able to scream to Bear.
“What?” he yelled back over his shoulder.
“For the love of all things holy, pull into the back of the building.” I screeched.
Thankfully, Bear was able to hear me and parked the bike behind the large building.
“What is going on?” He threw out the kickstand and twisted to look at me.
“J-Ja…” I stammered a few times. “Jasper is in the fucking parking lot. How did he find me?”
Bear pulled me off the back and into his lap with little effort. “Take a deep breath, darlin’. You have to breathe and tell me who the hell Jasper is.”
“He’s my husband.” My head fell onto Bear’s shoulder as I started to sob in his arms.
Bear whistled at an ear-piercing volume and within seconds, two men in cuts were running around the corner to our aid.
“Scarlett, which car is his?” Bear’s hands were gripping my shoulders as his eyes locked with mine.
“The blue sedan parked in the far corner,” I muttered.
“Are you positive it’s him?”
I nodded.
“He ran you off the road, didn’t he?” His words were sharp.
All I could do was nod some more as my sobbing took complete control over me.
“Scarlett, this is Knox. He is going to take you on my bike and get you out of here.”
I gripped at the sides of Bear’s cut. “You can’t.” I violently shook my head. I was in a full-blown panic attack.
“Do you trust me?”
I nodded.
“Scarlett, you have to say the words. Do you trust me?”
“I trust you, but you can’t leave me. He knows. He’ll find me. Please, Bear, you can’t let him find me.”
Bear wrapped me in his arms. I slammed my eyes shut, silently begging for this to all be a bad dream. I prayed to wake up on Bear’s couch with a silly movie on and a half-eaten pizza sitting on the coffee table.
“Knox, Brock, I need you two to keep him distracted while I get Scarlett out of here. I’m going to take her away for a couple of days. Get Jaxon back here no matter what the fuck he is doing. I want you guys to find out everything you can about Jasper and how he found us. I will be calling you in a few hours. Do you understand?”
Both men agreed right away, and that was that.
Chapter 8
Bear
It wasn’t the best plan I had ever come up with, but it was all I had. I drove as fast I could back to my house, packed a bag as quickly as I could, and had Scarlett in my truck, driving north to Vilas.
Exhaustion and pain took over and within thirty minutes of driving on the highway, she was snoring softly in the passenger’s seat. I had made the five-hour drive to and from Atlanta so many times, I was on autopilot.
Once we were more than halfway to our destination, I shot off a text to Ryder.
Heading your way. Minor emergency. Will explain at Crickett’s in two hours.
It only took Ryder a minute to send a message back.
Make it the bar and we’ll be waiting.
I didn’t need to respond. The read receipt would be enough for him to know I got and understood the message.
Right as I was about to dial Jaxon’s number, he was calling.
“I’m two hours out from the bar in North Carolina,” I said in as low a voice as I could.
“What the hell is going on? No one here can give me a straight fucking answer to save their damn lives. All I know is there is a dude named Jasper calling the sheriff in our damn parking lot.”
“He’s Scarlett’s husband. He figured out she was with us or saw her motorcycle, I have no damn clue, but he needs to be dealt with. He was the one that ran Scarlett off the road that night.”
“Fuck. All right. Consider it handled. Stay up there for at least five days.”
“I’ll call you tonight.”
Scarlett rubbed her eyes as she shifted in the leather seat. I reached for her hand, but she yanked it back.
“Where are we?” she barked.
I pulled off onto the shoulder. I knew I needed to have a conversation with her, and we both needed me to not be driving while it was happening.
“You need to tell me what happened that night.” I turned the truck off along with my cellphone.
“You need to tell me where the fuck we are first,” she bit back. I could see her fight mode taking over as fear started to course through her veins.
“Scarlett, I’m taking you to a safe house. We’re a little more than three hours away from Atlanta, and we have about an hour and a half left to go. There’s a small town up in the mountains called Vilas where another chapter of the Unaccpetables is located. They already know we’re coming.”
Her chest was heaving as she sucked in sharp breaths. “Did he follow us?”
“No. My guys have eyes on him. He’s still at the garage. I just got off the phone with Jaxon, and he confirmed that information.” I put my hand on hers. Thankfully, that time she didn’t pull away.
Scarlett told me everything she remembered from that night, from walking in carrying grocery bags and hearing her husband fucking her friend, all the way to blacking out after being thrown from her motorcycle.
“That’s what I was going to tell you this morning before you got that call.” She wiped tears from her cheeks with the bottom of her tank top.
“I am so sorry I let myself get distracted from something that was so important, darlin’.”
She sniffled. “It’s all right. You had no way of knowing.”
I ran my thumb over her damp cheek. “Next time, make me listen. You can tell me no. You’re allowed to be strong around me. I want you to be—fuck, I need you to be. If there is going to be anything in our future or even in our present, you need to speak your mind and break through my thick skull from time to time. Club business, at some points, can wait when it comes to something as important as what we are dealing with. Your safety will always be at the forefront of my mind and my top priority. I will protect you. I will always keep you safe.”
She pursed her lips before they slowly twisted into a smile.
“What is it?” I asked before leaning over to kiss her forehead.
“I’m that one girl for you, aren’t I? The woman that can be your old lady?”
I nodded while turning my phone back on and letting the diesel engine of my Denali grumble to life. “Let’s get through the next five days, sweetheart, but I have a sneaking suspicion you’re right.”
Chapter 9
Scarlett
I slept for the rest of the drive. It wasn’t until we were just outside of our destination that the vibrating of Bear’s cellphone on the dash woke me up again. He ignored the call that came right as we were passing a road sign that said Vilas – 5 miles.
Relief washed over me. Even though I was still scared shitless of Jasper and what he would do if he ever saw me again, I knew he would never be able to find me this far up the side of the mountain in such a little town. Add in the fact that now I was not only just under the protection of Bear, but his entire club, and I was in the safest situation I had been in since my father was alive.
“I wonder what club my father was in,” I muttered to myself under my breath.
“What’s that, sleepyhead?” Bear’s fingers brushed my hair behind my ear.
“My dad was in a motorcycle club, I just can’t for the life of me remember which one he was in.”
As we pulled off onto the exit, Bear smiled at me. “Your old man was a biker?”
I laughed a little. “Why do you think I have such an awesome bike? And not to mention my understanding of what you need in a woman?”
“Touché.” His smile spread across his face. “What was his name? Did he have a nickname?”
“Shane Morgan. I think everyone called him Gunner.” It was hard to think b
ack to it all; it felt like a lifetime ago. My father kept my brother and me as far away from his buddies and the club as possible.
“No fucking shit. Your old man is a legend.” The excitement in Bear’s voice washed over me as I bounced a little in my seat.
“Really?”
“Yeah, Holt is going to flip his shit. Rave used to talk about your daddy a lot when he was alive.”
“I think I remember that name.”
We pulled into the gravel parking lot of a worn-out bar.
“We’re here, sweetheart.”
Hand in hand, Bear walked with me into the bar where two kind-faced women and five men in cuts were sitting on barstools.
Bear beamed as he introduced me to everyone. “Scarlett, this is Crickett, Raine, Ryder, Holt, Red, Jesse, and Trent.”
As each one’s name was said, they nodded or raised their hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Bear said some of you might have known my daddy.”
Bear cleared his throat. “Ladies and gents, we are in the presence of MC royalty at its finest. Scarlett is Gunner’s daughter.”
Red nearly choked on the wad he was chewing on. “Did I just hear that correctly? Your last name is really Morgan?”
“Yes sir—well, my maiden name is anyway.”
The older of the two women, who had been introduced as Crickett, grabbed my hand, pulling me away from Bear. “Honey, take a seat. You look like you need to relax a bit. You’ve been through hell, haven’t you?”
Bear kissed my cheek. “Crickett and Raine will take good care of you while I fill these guys in on what is happening down south. I won’t be long, and I’ll just be on the other side of that door.” He pointed to a closed wooden door that said Employees Only in big block lettering.
The Unacceptables Series Box Set Two: Books Five through Nine with Exclusive Bonus Chapters Page 5