I was even given the perfect chance to somewhat prove myself to him and the rest of the Sinners and I ruined it. All because I couldn’t give up my lying, manipulative, bastard of a brother. And for what? Because he might actually feel a little bad about drugging me, kidnapping me and turning me over to someone who wanted him dead?
Every time I remembered how Creed walked out on me, followed by the rest of the Sinners, my resolve to protect whatever was left of my brother wavered and I didn’t know what ground I would have to stand on if it ever crumbled completely.
So yeah, the pancakes weren’t doing it.
“If you aren’t going to finish those…” Lizzy started, pushing her empty plate to the side. “Pass ‘em this way because I’m eating for two.”
We were in the kitchen of the clubhouse, seated across from each other at the granite island that dominated much of the space. I wasn’t entirely sure how I ended up cooking us both breakfast at seven something in the evening. Everything after Creed walked out that door was a blur. Yet, here we were, chatting like old pals despite meeting for the first time yesterday.
It should've surprised me, or at least felt weirder. Especially since our meeting, if it could be called that, consisted of me being tied up and at their mercy. But I think I was starting to adapt to all the constant changes happening in my life.
I forced myself to take another bite, hating the spongy texture for the first time ever. “Seriously? You already had six and they were all drowned in syrup. How are you not lapsing into a sugar coma?”
Lizzy grinned impishly, stabbing her fork into my plate without an ounce of shame. “I know, it’s weird right? I’m obsessed with sweets lately. I try to keep it under wraps though because Tex takes it way too seriously. I made an off-hand comment one night about wanting one of those frozen, chocolate covered banana things and he just had to go out and get one. At two in the morning.”
“That actually doesn’t surprise me. He seems very….” I wasn’t sure how I could finish that sentence without it sounding like an insult so I didn’t try. Lizzy had been unfailingly nice to me from the beginning.
“Possessive? Domineering? Controlling?” She supplied all of them with a smile on her face, still shamelessly eating from my plate. “He can be. I wasn’t lying when I said he was my caveman.” Her look turned sly. “You’ll get used to it.”
I blinked back at her innocently, even as my pulse raced. “I don't know what you're talking about.”
“Aww, bless your heart.” She put the fork down and patted my hand sweetly. “You’re in denial.”
I pulled my hand away and scowled. “I’m not denying anything. You’re talking nonsense.”
“Right… so I’m just imagining that there’s something going on between you and Creed?”
“The only thing ‘going on,’” I used air quotes, actual air quotes. What was wrong with me? “Is that I’m his prisoner for the foreseeable future.”
“Prisoner, huh?” Lizzy’s grin said she didn’t believe a word coming out of my mouth. “I didn’t know prisoners got kissed like that but whatever you say. The door is right there. I’m not going to stop you. Not when there are sweets to be consumed.”
“I wouldn't make it anywhere on foot, so-” A pair of keys jingled as they hit the countertop and I blinked down at them. “Seriously?” I threw my hands up in exasperation, trying and failing not to pout. “Is this some kind of test?”
Lizzy took one last bite and stood, heading for the sink. “Not really. I’m just waiting on you to wake up and smell the roses. You don’t want to be let go.”
My next protest died in my throat. She was right. From the moment I laid eyes on Creed, the thought of running away had hardly crossed my mind. It was nice and easy to chalk all of it up to my need to see my brother...not dead. But that was only part of it, and as much as it shamed me to admit, it wasn't even the largest part.
“It's too soon for me to feel this way,” I whispered, wanting to snatch the words back the second they left. I cringed at how pathetic I sounded as I waited for the laughter. And it was laughable. Getting away from the devil just to fall for the monster? It sounded unreal.
Yet one night spent in his arms had chased away a decade worth of worries.
A warm shoulder pressed against mine and I blinked to find Lizzy sitting beside me, genuine sympathy in her eyes. “No one gets to decide how you feel except you,” she said softly. “I knew I belonged to Texas from day one, and the way that we met was about as strange as it gets.”
“Stranger than being dropped off on his front porch bound, gagged and blindfolded?”
She smirked. “Equally as strange, but I'll tell you about it another time. The point is that they're all larger than life. It makes sense that falling in love with them doesn't play by the rules.”
And there it was. The L word that I was definitely still avoiding. A warm rush swept through me, starting in my belly and moving up into my chest before wrapping around my heart. I tamped down on it, but it was like trying to extinguish a forest fire with a water gun.
“Fine,” I sighed, banishing the cursed four letter word from my brain. “I don't want to get away. Happy now?”
“Hell yes I am.” Lizzy clapped enthusiastically and her joy was catching. This girl was just too damn happy to even try to be upset with. “You have no idea how badly outnumbered I usually am. Sylvia is as polite as someone who doesn't speak can be, but she's not exactly girly. The one time I brought up doing each other's nails, she stared at me like I had two heads.”
I laughed, trying and failing to picture the intimidating woman covered in piercings sitting down to do pedicures. That image did not compute.
“You're laughing but it was so not funny.” Lizzy shook her head, smiling wide. “I backed away slowly, afraid to make any sudden moves in case she mistook me for a T-rex or something.”
“Wouldn't being a giant, badass dinosaur be to your advantage?”
“Not once you've seen the way that woman practices with a knife. When they get back, remind me to show you her room. It's straight out of feudal Japan.”
I frowned. “Where did they all go anyway? I'm surprised Texas would leave you alone with me, what with me being radioactive by association and all.”
Her lips pursed. “I wouldn't say we're all alone. Sloan and Ryker are parked along the street.”
I didn't know who that was right off but it also didn't matter in the moment. “Sooo...you offering up your keys was a test?” A wave of irritation flashed through me.
She waved away my snark. “They don’t know who you are, and even if they did, they go where I go whenever Tex isn’t around. My car leaving without me in it wouldn’t really concern them.”
“Then what aren’t you telling me? Where are they?”
Lizzy chewed her lip, glancing away and back again.
“Look,” I huffed impatiently. “I’m aware that they get into some illegal shit. I would be lying if I said my name was squeaky clean considering who my brother is. The last thing I want to do is go to the police.”
“Wouldn’t matter if you did. I know Creed has some of them on the payroll and the others are too afraid to cross his path anyway. Small town cops aren’t built for that kind of confrontation.”
A new fantasy popped into my head that would be perfect for the next boring, rainy day. Picturing an overweight sheriff waddling up to Creed with a pair of handcuffs was something straight out of a cartoon. My imagination completed the hilarious image with the imposing biker blowing the floppy hat from the sheriff’s head like the Big Bad Wolf he was.
Going by the odd look Lizzy was giving me, I was probably grinning into the distance like a loon.
My cheeks flushed and I cleared my throat, doing my best to look composed and totally not like I was just caught daydreaming. Nope, not me. I waved my hand in a gesture that said, ‘please continue,’ and it was done with the kind of elegance that would’ve made the Queen proud.
I was also wi
lling to count Lizzy’s obvious amusement as a win.
At least up until she dropped the fucking mother of all bombs on me.
“They’re going to do...not very nice things to some gang members and probably start a war in the process.” She stood up calmly while my jaw hit the floor. “So, want to watch Netflix while we wait?”
***
My brain was rotting.
No. Seriously.
There was gray matter leaking out of my ears and at any moment, human flesh was going to become incredibly appetizing. This was what I got for watching four hours worth of the silliest show I had ever seen. Love triangles were already bad enough on their own. Everybody knew good and full well who the girl was going to choose. But this? Two hundred year old brothers fighting over a high school girl?
Television was seriously reaching a new low, and Lizzy was loving it.
We were curled up on opposite sides of the living room couch, in front of the biggest flat screen I had ever seen in my life. At least one of us was doing a fantastic job of remaining completely calm, despite the whole, gangster gunbattle possibly happening right this moment. Hint: that person wasn’t me.
The distraction of vampire antics notwithstanding, I was losing it more and more as the minutes ticked by and a fucking lot of them had ticked by. My fingernails were all bitten down to nubs. My hair definitely looked like it was as picked at as a bird’s nest, and at some point during this latest hour, my foot hanging over the sofa had started rapidly tapping away on the floor.
All of Lizzy’s efforts to put me at ease, and there had been a hell of a lot of them as well, had fallen on deaf ears. Sure, Creed was a legend. If someone told me last week that the Seven Sinners were headed into a fight, I would say a quick prayer for whoever was going to an early grave.
Funny thing about legends though, they were untouchable.
Creed...wasn’t.
I knew the heat of his body. The softness of his skin and the strength beneath it. The absolute dominance he exuded over everything those gray eyes fell upon. Above all, I knew that he was human, and unlike the supernatural creatures smoldering on the tv, a bullet would do the same thing to him that it would to anyone else.
I nudged Lizzy with the foot that wasn’t tapping. “Seriously? Have you heard anything?” Mentally, I patted myself on the back for once again fighting off the urge to lunge for her phone, but it was hard to congratulate myself for that when she was pregnant, and several inches taller than me.
She didn’t take her eyes away from the screen, which meant I was free to hold my hands in the air and pretend to strangle her. “I can see that, you know.” Whoops. I dropped my arms. “And they're going to be fine, alright? Trust me.”
As if to prove her point, we heard the beginnings of a distant rumble that started growing louder by the second. I barely heard Lizzy’s sing-song, “I told you so,” because I was too busy listening as hard as I could to the sound of those engines roaring. Maybe if I focused really, really hard, my superpowers would kick in and I would be able to tell how many people were out there on the road.
Lizzy was up and moving towards the windows as the multiple engines pulled up outside and started cutting off. I didn’t have the courage to follow her. If Creed wasn’t out there, if he wasn’t coming back through that door, I knew without a doubt that I would never feel safe again. The terrible knowledge of that fact froze my breath and forced me to squeeze my eyes shut, hoping it would all go away.
Hoping that when I opened them, I would be back in his bed with his arm over me.
Be okay, I begged as the door creaked open and the commotion started. Please, be okay. Be okay. Be okay. Be-
“Breathe.” Creed demanded in a voice that cut through all the white noise. All the panic. All the fear.
I gasped, sucking in a greedy mouthful of air that tasted like smoke and copper, eyes flying open. Creed was sitting on the table right in front of me, leaning forward onto his knees, tattooed hands clasped in front of him and those stormcloud eyes were glowing with an intensity I was all too happy to look away from as I drank him in.
I had to admit, victory looked good on him. Really fucking good. Like someone had found the knob for devastatingly attractive and cranked it until the damn thing broke.
Flinging myself off the couch and into his arms wasn’t even a conscious thought. It just happened. One moment I was quite possibly drooling over him. The next, my arms were wrapped around his neck, my face pressed into the hollow of his warm throat and his wide chest was jumping up and down in a way that took me a moment to realize was laughter.
His arms slid around my waist. “Missed me that much, Red?” My cheeks heated and I pulled back to look at him, nearly losing my breath all over again at the smile waiting there.
That's just...not fair.
I shook my head before I got trapped in a daze and narrowed my eyes at him. “Don't get smug with me. You walked away, Creed. I understand why, but I don't have to like it. You-”
“I was wrong.”
My mouth opened and closed uselessly, the steam escaping from the sails of my rant.
“I can admit when I'm wrong. Don't look so surprised.” He leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss to my cheek and I was seriously on the verge of short-circuiting. His voice dropped, becoming a husky growl. “I plan on making it up to you.”
My body betrayed me, melting against him. “Oh yeah?” I whispered, fingers curling around the hair at the base of his neck. “How do you plan on doing that?”
He stood, taking me with him with ease. “Believe me. I've got plenty of ideas.”
CHAPTER 8 - Caitlin
Because it would've been too much to ask for him to ever do something that I expected, Creed carried me straight out the front door without a word to the Sinners still milling around downstairs. There were several Harley's propped up on their stands going down the side of the house, illuminated by the flood lights shining down on them, but his was easy to pick out. They matched.
His bike was so black from handlebar to muffler that I could swear it was actively making the area around it darker, absorbing the light like a sponge. To say it looked threatening would be an understatement. I wouldn’t be surprised if it could travel by itself, running down his enemies, chewing them up beneath its wheel and returning to its infernal master covered in blood.
Or maybe I'm being dramatic.
Creed stopped beside it and put me on the ground, grabbing the helmet hanging off the handlebar and offering it to me. “Can you ride?” He climbed on without waiting for my response, hand outstretched.
If mopeds count, yes.
I took the helmet, securing it easily. “Where are we going?”
He shot me a smirk, leaning back comfortably, and I took a mental snapshot. There was something glorious about the way he looked, firmly in his element, the night sky at his back. Handsome, irresistible, and more than a little dangerous. A heady combination if there ever was one.
When it was clear he wasn't going to answer, I huffed out a breath and climbed on behind him, leaning into his back and holding on. My fingers splayed across his stomach and his abs flexed beneath my touch. A thrill fluttered through my chest, making me bold, and my hands swept up, caressing his pecs before flitting slowly back down.
“Careful there, Red,” he rumbled. “Any lower and I’m tearing those tiny shorts off you and bending you over right here.”
Muscles low in my stomach tensed, carnal heat spreading. My fingers dipped beneath the waistband of his jeans, curling in the hair there. Commando. Why am I not surprised?
I braced myself and sat up until I could take his ear lobe between my teeth. “Can you blame me?” I whispered, pushing further into his jeans by centimeters. “You didn’t finish what you started earlier.” He groaned but one of his large hands caught both my wrists in an unbreakable grip, halting my advance.
“Stop pouting.” How did he- “Soon enough, I’ll have my tongue between your thighs and you’ll be begg
ing me to stop.” That wiped the expression from my face as I panted audibly. “For now, my greedy woman, hold on.”
I did as he asked, tucking myself tighter against him. The powerful machine rumbled to life beneath us, buzzing between my legs. Creed cranked the engine and it roared into the night like a wolf howling at the full moon overhead, so loud that I felt it in my bones and I was sure it echoed for miles. Without another word of warning, he peeled out onto the street and took off into the night at a reckless pace that set my heart racing and sent adrenaline rushing through my veins.
“WOOOO!” I cheered wildly as we left the few houses behind and got swallowed up by the starry, night sky and the trees stretching up on either side. Creed’s chest shook with laughter that I was sure was directed at me, but I didn’t care in the least. Wind was whipping through my hair. Balmy heat was clinging to my skin and I didn’t have a care in the world.
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