“Great.” I turn back to Bobby Ray. “Then we’ll see you there.”
“Hey, you’re on your own with this one, brother.” Saint lights a cigarette. “I gotta get home to Kami.”
Bobby Ray chuckles. “Well, I hate to state the obvious, but Jupiter might not take too kindly to you showing up at all, much less being empty-handed.”
“We’ll take our chances.”
“Diner’s still open,” Crow says.
I nod and tilt my head in that direction. “Prospect, go see if they got some kinda pie.”
Crow’s face gets all pinched up, like he’s pissy that I’m ordering him around. “Sure thing, boss.”
“Somethin’ sweet.” I pull my billfold from my jeans and hand him some cash. “Peach.” Then I turn my attention back to Bobby Ray. “Threats clearly don’t work on your sister. Maybe all she needs is a little sweetness.”
“You think a pie is gonna bring Jupiter around?”
“I think I’m almost out of patience, and between you and me, that’s a dangerous thing. I’ll see you at dinner.”
“She had to stop at the market on the way home. If you leave now, you might even beat her to it.”
I walk back to the bike and wait for Crow. When he returns with a pink pastry box in hand, I take it from him and check the insides. Then I stick my thumb inside the golden lattice on top and pull it out, sucking it clean.
“Remind me not to ask for a slice after dinner.” Crow screws up his nose as he climbs on his bike. I slide on behind him, so ready to quit riding bitch.
JUPITER’S YOUNGEST brother glances nervously at the exit when the screen door closes and Tink calls, “Tuck?”
“Back here,” he says, his voice breaking on the words. Poor little bastard. I bet the last thing he expected when he opened the door was two burly bikers coming for dinner.
“Why the hell is there a Harley parked in my—”
“Hello, Tink,” I say, kicking out the seat opposite me at the kitchen table.
Her eyes dart from mine to Crow’s and then to the cold beers in our hands. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Your brother invited us to dinner.”
She glances at Tuck and the kid shakes his head. “Oh, not my friend Tucker here,” I stand and clasp my hand on the kid’s shoulder. He shakes under my grip. “The other one at the garage.”
Her eyes narrow. “I’m gonna kill Bobby Ray.”
“Don’t go too hard on him. We were pretty persuasive. Ain’t that right, Crow?”
“Yep.”
I swing my gaze back to Tink. “It seems the only person in this entire town who can’t be persuaded is you.”
“Can I talk to you?” she asks through her teeth. “Alone?”
I grin. “Thought you’d never ask, darlin’.”
I follow her into the adjoining living room. A worn sectional sofa takes up the majority of the space. There’s a large flatscreen on the wall, and picture frames of little kids and people who I assume are Jupiter’s parents line the mantel, there are potted plants, knitted throw blankets, but there’s not one thing in this room that screams her. Interesting.
“What do you want, Tennessee?”
“I think you know what I want.”
“It’s almost done.” She’s lying through her teeth, but I play along anyway.
“Good. ’Cause I’m gettin’ real tired of ridin’ bitch, but that’s not actually what I was talking about.”
Tink’s brows pinch together. I move across the room in a heartbeat, grab her cheeks, and plant one on her. She lets out a startled cry, but it’s swallowed by my mouth. She bites my lip hard and pushes me away. I swipe my thumb across my lower lip and dart out my tongue, suggestively licking away the drop of blood she drew.
“I like your fight, darlin’.”
“Oh, I’m just getting started. Touch me again without permission and I’ll show you a fight.”
I grin and lick my lips again. She follows the movement with a hawk-eyed gaze. “Then I can’t wait to do it again.”
Another of her brothers and the pretty boy from her shop enter the living room and stop dead in their tracks when their eyes flit between me and Jupiter.
“Jupiter?” the asshole she doesn’t share blood with, and who looks at her like she’s fucking his, asks. His gaze rolls over me and finds me wanting. He’s right. I want her on her knees before me and worshiping my cock, and nothing will fucking stop me from getting what I want. “Everything okay?”
“Yep. Fine,” she says over her shoulder. “Get the fuck out of my house, biker.”
“Prospect, get your ass out here,” I call to Crow, fighting hard to hide the amusement in my voice. “I’ll see you tomorrow, darlin’.” I wink and then lean in as I pass her. “And my bike better be fuckin’ ready, or you best be prepared to be bent over that desk in your office, just like we talked about. You enjoy that sweet little peach pie now. I sure will when I finally get a taste.”
I pause only long enough to hear her sharp inhalation, and then I push past the sorry bastard who thinks he has a chance with her, and I head outside.
“Wait. We’re not staying for dinner?” Crow asks.
Jesus fucking Christ. Way to ruin my exit, asshole.
CHAPTER FIVE
Bear
“Alright, alright. Quit fuckin’ yapping and let’s get down to business.” Chaos bangs his fist on the table and all conversation quickly dies down. I glance at the Uprising prez. He’s a good president, and though I’m not patched to this chapter, it’s easy to see why the brothers follow him. This group is like a tight-knit family. My old club wasn’t like that. My old club was chaos, but this one is sailing on smooth fucking waters when compared to the Tennessee chapter. Even with all that bullshit with the rival MC, the Twisted Snakes, coming to town and shooting the place up, Chaos and the rest of the Uprising Kings took out the fucking trash without so much as breaking a sweat.
“We got a tip that there’s another club in our backyard, boys. Calling themselves the Bayou Bastards MC.”
Disgruntled murmurs travel through the room. If there’s one thing you don’t do as a one percenter, it’s show up unannounced and uninvited in another club’s territory, but it seems we’re having to educate a lot of fuckers lately on basic MC etiquette.
“Word is they came out from Louisiana to fuck shit up,” Chaos continues. “I got a call from Bear’s former president, Anvil, this morning. He told me these fools had been up in Nashville and had a run-in with some members of the Tennessee chapter. Said he saw ’em cross into Georgia and to be on the lookout.”
“And what are we supposed to do if we find them in our backyard?” I ask. I’m not a patched member of the Uprising charter, but Chaos has made it clear I have a seat at their table as long as I’m in town, and I’m not about to let my brothers face these assholes alone.
“We show them some Southern hospitality and kick their asses the whole way home,” Sterling says. Ruin grins.
Chaos studies them both. “You do nothing. You don’t engage, but you report back to the club.”
“Why are we fucking around with this?” Ruin asks. “These assholes came into our territory. They need to be taught a lesson.”
“It ain’t that easy, kid.” Bash folds his arms and sits back in his seat. “So far, we got nothin’ on this club. We don’t know how big their numbers are. We go into this blind, tearin’ shit up, shootin’ first and asking questions later, they’re gonna retaliate.”
“Then let them. We’ll be ready.” Sterling glances at his father. Bash holds his gaze and it’s not hard to see where this kid got his stubbornness.
“For now, we watch.” Chaos points to our three newest patches. “That’s an order. You get that?”
Everyone nods, and Sterling and Ruin let out a gruff, “Got it, Prez.”
“I do want eyes on them,” Chaos says. “Bear, where’s your bike at? I didn’t see it outside.”
I graze my teeth over the bitemarks Tink left
in my lip and groan. “In the shop.”
“What the fuck?” Ruin side-eyes me from across the table. “Jupiter’s never taken that long with our rides in the past.”
“I guess none of us have ever pissed her off quite like Bear has.” Sterling claps his hand on my shoulder. “Looks like you met your match, brother.”
Chaos grits his teeth. “How long before it’s ready?”
“I’m workin’ on it.”
“Well, this shit can’t wait. So while your stubborn little girlfriend is playing games, you’ll have to drive the van. Take Crow with you. I want the two of you scouring every inch of this town.”
I nod. “Understood.”
“Got it, Prez.” Crow stands behind his sponsor, North. Prospects aren’t patched. They don’t get a seat at the table, and they’re not supposed to open their big mouths during church. You stand, you watch, you listen, and you shut the hell up. The kid’s a little eager, but Chaos and North don’t correct him for it, so it’s not my place to.
I lock eyes with Crow. He gives an infinitesimal nod and seems to melt back into the wall. He’s good at following orders, so he’ll do alright. In my club, I spend as little time as possible with the prospects—because they’re arrogant little fucks who think their shit don’t stink—but that hasn’t been my experience here. I don’t actually want to kill Crow, which should make this bearable. As long as he can keep Jupiter fucking Jones’s name out of his mouth, it’ll be easy as pie.
“Sterling, Ruin, you’re with me and Bash. Saint, Sly should have you covered. Everyone else has their own shit to take care of. Prospect.” Chaos points to Mako, though Sterling, Saint, and Ruin all sit at attention. I guess being a fully patched member hasn’t really sunk in for any of them yet. “You’ll be shadowing Bouncer.”
“Alright, Prez. I’m there. Whatever you need.”
Chaos bangs the gavel, and we all stand, the patched members moving out of the room first while the two remaining prospects wait their fucking turn. I head out to the lounge. Club sluts sit around in their skimpy little outfits, eager to get the party started. They’re all sorely disappointed when Chaos tells them to get the fuck out.
“Hey, Bear,” Asia says with a little wave.
I arch a brow as I pass, but I don’t engage. That bitch is fucking thirsty for a patched brother, and I don’t fuck cling-ons, much less want to keep them around.
“I’m telling ya, brother. She is hard up for your dick,” Crow caws as he catches up to me.
“That’s never fuckin’ gonna happen.”
He shrugs. “I don’t know. She’s okay.”
“She’s one goddamn step away from being a bunny boiler. Never gonna happen.”
“Yeah, I guess she’s not really your type, is she?”
“What the fuck’s that supposed to mean? The fuck you know about my type?”
“Well, for a start, you seem to like them a little crazier with fuckin’ candy-colored hair and a big-ass chip on their shoulder.”
I stop walking and shove my finger at his chest. “I am not spending all goddamn night talking about her. In fact, you’re not gonna say a word about that crazy fuckin’ bitch at the garage or her ridiculous fuckin’ hair.”
Crow holds up his hands in a placating position. “Okay, okay. I get it. No talking about her hair.”
“Thank you. Now get in the goddamn van.”
“Yes sir.” He salutes, and he’s lucky I don’t fucking knock him out. I don’t take that kind of disrespect lightly.
Jesus. Get a goddamn grip, Bear.
I climb in the driver’s seat and jam the key in the ignition, kicking over the engine.
“You know,” Crow says as he rests his elbow on the window frame, “you never said anything about her tight little a—”
I smack him upside the head and peel out of the clubhouse lot in a cloud of burning rubber and screeching tires.
WE’VE SCOURED EVERY fucking inch of this town, and there’s been no sign of the Bayou Bastards. It’s ten a.m. and other than a quick coffee stop at the all-night diner, we’ve been cooped up in this van for too goddamn long. Time to head back to the clubhouse and check in.
“Pull in up here,” I tell Crow as we approach Jupiter’s.
“Oh, you mean at the garage of the woman we can’t talk about?”
“Shut up, fuck face. I need to see a woman about my ride.”
“About your ride, or about riding her?”
I grit my teeth and climb out once he comes to a stop in the lot. The shop door is open, and all of the boys are already hard at work. I bypass them on the way to the office, but Liam calls after me, “She ain’t in there.”
I turn and glare at the cockiest of Jupiter’s brothers. “Where the fuck is she?”
Liam points to the back, where there’s a shiny Dodge Charger and a pair of Chuck Taylors peeking out from under the hood. I follow them up to find her shapely little legs encased in coveralls. My boots thud against the concrete as I cut a path across the shop floor toward her. I stop before her feet and bend at the waist. Grabbing hold of her ankles, I yank her toward me.
“What the fuck?” She comes sliding out on a mechanic’s creeper, wielding a wrench, with murder in her baby blues. Tink shoots to her feet and pokes me in the chest with her wrench. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“You.” I growl, yanking the weapon from her hands and tossing it to the floor. It clatters obnoxiously, ringing in my ears. “Because of you dragging ass on my bike, I had to sit in a van with this fucker all night.” I point to Crow behind me. “I told you I was gonna come back every day until that shit was fixed, and I’ve been comin’, but still no bike. Now, I’m gonna give you one more chance to make this right.”
She tilts her chin defiantly. “Or what?”
“Or I’m going to sit here day and night until you get your fucking shit together and fix the goddamn bike that I’m paying you to fix.”
“That’s it? Jeez, Tennessee. I was hoping at least for a little rough love. Isn’t that what you big scary bikers do to insubordinate women?”
“Well, I can’t speak for all bikers, but I have zero problem putting you over my knee, princess. You just try pushin’ me a little further and I’ll give you all the rough love you can handle.” I lean into her space. We’re standing so close that all I need is one touch, one glance, one breath, and I could take her mouth with mine. She searches my gaze, her lips parting on a soft inhalation. I grasp the back of her neck and lean in, ready to take that hot little mouth again.
Bang, bang, bang!
Gunshots ring out through the room. What the fuck? I throw myself over Tink. She hits the concrete hard with an “oof,” and I’m pretty sure I just knocked the breath clean out of her lungs.
Hellfire rains down over us, and tires screech as they burn rubber. I no longer see the garage around me, Tink beneath me. No. All around me are the remains of my brothers, twisted metal, and scorched earth. Beneath me, my team leader lies bleeding out. I stare at my hands, covered in blood and bits of charred flesh, and I can only look down at him as the light fades from his eyes.
“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!” I suck in several sharp breaths, but I can’t get enough air. I can’t breathe.
“Bear!” Crow shouts, and I shake my head, trying to clear it. What the fuck is the prospect doing here?
I glance down at the fallen brother before me, but his face is not what I see. Instead, pale skin, tattoos, and lilac hair greet me. Her pretty features are twisted in pain and horror as she blinks up at me.
“Tennessee.” She gasps. “I can’t breathe.”
I scramble off her body and lie on the cold concrete, trying to catch my breath. Sweat beads on my brow and trickles down my spine.
“Bear! They’re getting away. We need to go after them,” Crow shouts. I glance at him and then back at Tink, shaking my head, trying to escape that war zone, trying not to see the blood on my hands or smell the desert beneath me.
Blood woo
shes in my ears and I can’t hear a thing beyond my own thundering heart, can’t see beyond the blackness trying to consume me, but I turn toward Tink in the hopes that she’ll bring me back. I reach out my hand and she takes it, twining her small fingers with mine.
“Are you h-hurt?” I ask.
“I’m okay.” She winces and then she’s gone just as suddenly, shooting to her feet and running across the room. “Oh my god, Grant!”
“Tink! Get down,” I shout, though the screeching tires and the fact that Crow is on his feet are a pretty good fucking indication that the shooters are gone.
I glance around the shop. Her brothers are scattered at different points, but Grant lies on the concrete, gasping for breath while blood pools on the floor beneath him. “Fuck!”
I rise and walk across the room on trembling legs, as if I’m floating.
“Someone call nine one one.” Tink’s hands are covering the wound on Grant’s abdomen. Crimson seeps through her fingers, and I blink, seeing my team before me again.
“Bear!” Crow shouts. “Shouldn’t we be going after them? Chaos is gonna have our asses.”
I shake my head to clear my thoughts. Liam brushes past me, knocking my shoulder on his way to help Jupiter. Jeb is on the phone, furiously conveying the events to emergency services, but Bobby Ray is nowhere to be seen.
“Bear!” Crow echoes, and I turn toward him. Chaos will have my ass if we don’t follow them. Even now, there’s no telling where these assholes might have gone, but there are only two ways out of town, and the Bastards sped off in the direction closest to us.
I glance at Tink, whose face is contorted in terror. The last thing I want is to leave her right now, but I have no other choice.
I nod at Crow and we both race toward the van. I let him drive because I honestly don’t trust myself to operate heavy machinery right now, but also because my aim is never off. Four years as a sharpshooter on the Teams, and I’d rather take a bullet than miss a shot.
“That was fuckin’ crazy,” Crows says as he takes the corner too fast. I hold on to the handle with a white-knuckled grip and survey everything around us. There’s no sign of the Bastards anywhere. Chaos is going to fucking kill me.
Bear (Kings of Carnage MC - Prospects Book 4) Page 3